Blog Swap with Lori @ Paisley Passion!

First of all -- I'm extending the two giveaways I have going on right now!! I fgured with the holidays and black friday, cyber monday and holiday decorating - you've been a little busy! So go check them out!

Little Green Books Giveaway
Marvelous Prints

Now onto the good stuff!!:) I'm sooo excited to be participating in my first Blog Swap! :) I just LOVE everything over at Paisley Passions .... so take it away Lori!

I was super thrilled when Whitney @ Diary of a Preppy Mom contacted me about doing a blog swap. She has a lot of DARLING stuff going on over here on her blog. So, I was more than happy to have her guest post for me on Paisley Passions today, and just as excited to be given the chance to post on her blog as well!


Let me introduce myself. My name is Lori and I have a blog called, Paisley Passions. I am a busy mother of 5 kiddos, a wife, and a full-time returning college student. My life can get a little bit crazy at times (especially with finals drawing near!); so, my blog is my creative outlet. I use it to share all of the things that I create. You will find all sorts of things going on over there.

There will be stuff like this:

And this:

And even this:

This week I just posted about how I turned magnetic jars into a Reindeer Round-Up Advent Calendar. I think it turned out SUPER CUTE. If you want to see it, POP ON OVER and check it out :)

I also host a linky party called Thrilling Thursdays where YOU can link up YOUR creations and find a lot of creative inspiration from the other links as well. I would love it if you came over and linked up!

I hope you will stop on by to Paisley Passions and say hi! It is always great to meet new bloggers out in blogland!

Thanks, Whitney for swapping with me today!

Wine Cork Reindeer

Looking for a fun project to do with your kids?

These little Cork reindeers are perfect!

What you need:

Drink some wine and save the corks!

Red Button or Pom Pom for nose

Googley Eyes

Brown Pipe Cleaner

Glue Gun

Now we're ready ....

Wrap the pipe cleaner around the cork and twist.

Then bend until they look like antlers!

Hot glue your red button nose!

 

and then add the eyes!

If you want to be able to hang it - 

hot glue a piece of ribbon to the back!

That's it! You're done! :)

Now display proudly on a tree ... 

or perhaps use it with a gift tag on a present!

and now drink some more wine so that you can make more!

(or just a buy a pack of corks at Michaels but what fun is that?!)

 

Letters to God ...

I just love the view of the world from little eyes ...

Here are some letters children wrote to God in a friend's sunday school class.

They made me smile!

Enjoy!

 

Monkey Man.

My little monkey is getting so big!!

I can't believe he's almost 10 months old!!

Where did the time go????

A TV & A BIKE ...

No, that's not what I bought on Black Friday.....

That's what I saw ...

a man walked out of Best Buy and strapped this bad boy onto his bike!

and then he rode off .... into the sunset.

Happily Ever After.

Until he ran a stop sign and almost got hit by a car.

that's Black Friday for ya!!

I went to get a TV but when I got there at 4 they were already gone!! I didn't quite understand since it said they didn't go on sale until 5 ... but apparently people were camping out at midnight so they handed out tickets! Needless to say - I don't think I'll try for the "electronic" deals again - it's just too much craziness!

I did get some great movies (we looovee movies in this house!), a coffee maker for Tarzan, some $5 T-shirts from Old Navy (stay tuned for a re-purposing soon) and a few random things! But honestly - nothing was worth getting up at 3:30 for! :)

So how about you?

Did you go out for Black Friday?

Did you get what you went for?
Was it a complete madhouse?

Playing Hostess - Thanksgiving!

All year we've been planning on spending Thanksgiving with Tarzan's family in Texas! We were sooo excited! Tarzan has a HUGE family and everyone was going to be there! The chaos of 1 grandmother, 2 parents, 6 grown kids & their spouses, 7 grandchildren and about 20 Family Friends -- it would have been a blast! But then flight school happened and the military didn't approve our leave - so we're stuck here in Pensacola at the last minute. We were sad at first - but now we're embracing it! We'll just make our own Thanksgiving traditions! We invited over some friends, did some last minute grocery shopping, house cleaning & decorating and now we're ready for Turkey Day!!!!

I decorated the table using only things I had on hand ... (yayy for being thrifty!!)

It's nothing fancy but I'm really loving the simplicity of it.

I whipped up the Burlap placemats in about 10 minutes by sewing a simple stitch about 1" in, all the way around and then pulled out the frayed edges.

I love how the green napkins add a nice pop of color with the white china & burlap!

Not your typical Thanksgiving colors - but hey, I was using what I had! :)

and who doens't love a Pear Placecard?! :)

A Burlap table runner, some neutral pumpkins & 3 Hurricanes filled with candles and oats.

Yup - just some Quaker Oatmeal from the pantry!

I love how natural it looks!

Plus - you know -- Thanksgiving, Harvest, Oats, Oatmeal. 

That was my train of thought anyway! :)

A cute little appliqued Turkey shirt for my turkey ...

and lots of recipes printed from Martha.

LOVE.HER. :)

and now we're ready for our first Thanksgiving at home!

Wish me luck in the kitchen!

I'm definitely no martha ....

Giveaways!

While everyone is gearing up for Thanksgiving and BLACK FRIDAY (whooo hooo!!!) -- don't forget about my great giveaways going on right now!!

Little Green Books
Marvelous Prints

Sorry I've been a little MIA ... monkey man and I are both fighting nasty colds and I've lost a little bit of my crafting mojo! But don't worry - I'll be back. very soon!! :) 

Topgun meets Legally Blond.

I'm sure most of you know, but for those who don't -

The hubs is in flight school with the Navy!

This is the day he got his flight suit! isn't he handsome!?! :)

He just recently finished the first phase (API)

and has now moved onto the second phase (Primary).

The great thing about Primary is that we're now attached with a "squadron"! :)

It's like Topgun meets Legally Blond.

You get to dress up in your husband's flight suit ...

complete with helmet, gloves, visor & mic ...

and taxi a T-34 Navy Training Jet.

That's me in the backseat - "driving"!!

Did you know that you steer airplanes with foot petals and not a steering wheel?

I didn't! :) and since I can't even drive a standard ....

and the whole coordination of two feet at one time thing ...

I clearly wasn't the best pilot! ;)

But at least I looked like I knew what I was doing!! :)

I even got an "official" certificate signed by the commander for completing my first "taxi".

and the funniest part is that since my husband is still in "ground school" (the academic portion of flight school), I got to sit in the cockpit of the plane before he did! ;)

So he was slightly jealous! :)

You see - this boy has wanted to fly since he was FOUR!!!!

He is living his dream!

It's amazing to watch him LOVE what he does everyday!

so this ... 

is his version of heaven!!! :)

and for one day - it was a family affair ---

Even monkey man had on a flight suit!!

Please ignore the pacifier! Mommy was being selfish and flying planes rather than enforcing nap time -- which led to one very fussy little monster monkey!

Until I put the helmet on ... then he LOVED that! :)

It was such a great day!

It was so great to experience what the hubs does everyday,

even if it was only a LITTLE taste of his world! :)

Move over Maverick ....

{A Marvelous Giveaway} - Christmas Cards & More.

Christmas is right around the corner!!!

You are probably starting to pull down decorations,

and turn up your Christmas music --  

but have you ordered your Christmas Cards yet?

If not - it's your lucky day!

My very talented friend Page over at It's Marvelous just opened up a new Etsy shop, Marvelous Prints, where she is selling FABULOUS Christmas cards, Thank you Notes & other stationary!

I just love all the Christmas cards ...

I love the simplicity combined with the funky flare!

She even has photo cards! :)

and who doesn't love a photo card, right?

But my FAVORITE thing about her cards are the bible verses!

All the cards with bible verses that I see in the stores are so BOORRRINNGG!

I love that these are fun & funky yet you are sharing the gospel too! ;)

They even come complete with matching red envelopes & a handmade cloth gift bag!! What a wonderful personal touch!

Oh but it's not Christmas cards - she's got more! :)

The kid's thank you notes make me smile ...

The fill-in-the-blank ones are so great!

How perfect are those for your little ones?

and of course, the southern girl in me is LOVING the monogram ones!

 

or maybe you need to send a quick thank you note for all your holiday goodies!?

No worries - she has plenty to choose from here!

Feeling a little feisty? say thanks it Italian!

Don't you just love them all?

Simple, sweet and to the point - what more could you want in a card?

Watch Out Hallmark!

BUY IT {+ discount!!}

Want to buy some or all? :) Check out Page's Etsy shop, Marvelous Prints! If you mention you saw it at Diary of a Preppy Mom, she'll give you 10% off your entire purchase!!
Offer valid through Dec. 15th, 2010.

WIN IT!! 

Page is offering one lucky winner a $20 gift certificate to  her Etsy shop, Marvelous Prints! How Marvelous is that???

How to enter:

please leave email address so I can contact you!

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Check out Marvelous Prints and leave a comment telling me which set is your favorite!!

Extra Entries: (leave separate comment for each one)

- Follow Diary of a Preppy Mom via Google Friend Connect.

- Follow Diary of a Preppy Mom on Twitter. 

- Like Diary of a Preppy Mom on Facebook

- Enter my Little Green Books Giveaway

- Tweet/Facebook/Blog about the giveaway (every day is a new entry)

GOOD LUCK!!!

Giveaway ends on November 30th, 2010 at midnight CST.

Winner will be chosen using random.org.