December 1st

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Yesterday bestie and I spent the whole day at her house crafting, playing, and eating yummy soup and grilled cheese. It was awesome. I love the time we get to spend together and I love that sweet boy.

We updated our shadow boxes for the month and decided to go with shimmery bells. Every time I look at it I think of my mom... she loves the story of the Polar Express. She read it to my brother and I when we were little and we've probably seen the movie a million times in the past 10 years. Every year she puts a bell in our stocking with a special note...her message is always the same...it's one of faith and trust.  

Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see. 

Yall know I want to send you some bells too! :) and the piece of bakers twine so all you have to have is a frame... lucky you. I only had enough paper to punch out 3 sets, so email me fast! :)

pamela {dot} eaton {at} gmail.com

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also, and most importantly... today is the first day of Advent...

I'd love it if you took the time to watch this video and think about what Christmas means to you...

no pressure. just love.

Remember that candy corn wreath?

Well.... I re-made it for Christmas into a gumdrop wreath! 

Picked all the glue covered candy corn off...

re-wraped the form in white duck tape...

hot glued the 7 bags of spice gum drops 

(that were on sale for .67 cents a bag at Walgreens)...

and hung it up in the kitchen....

love, love, love it.

see the original candy corn wreath here...

She called me out on it....

My post for Tuesday included an update to the artwork on my kitchen chalkboard...

bestie called me out on it (via text message, not blog comment, thanks ra)

She said there was no way that I had drawn that free hand (what can I say, she knows my skill level)

So I spilled the beans to her, and now I'll share with you...

Google "turkey"

print out a page size image of your favorite image

turn the paper over on the counter, printed side down

take your chalk, long ways, and rub the back of the image

turn the paper over and lay it in place on your chalkboard

use something pointed but DULL 

(handle of a spoon, pointy part of a pen cap... nothing that will scratch through the paper)

trace the part of your image that you need help with

on the Turkey I did the outline and then filled it in with colored chalk

I in NO WAY do I think that chalkboards need to be perfect, I change mine out very frequently and usually free hand what is there... but I wanted a Turkey on this one... and gosh darn it I tried about 4 times and I kept getting frustrated. After the last attempt, I asked the hubs "what does this look like to you?" he said "Cole?" um no, not our dog, a darn turkey! So I gave up and semi-stenciled the thing! LOL

Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple of months... looking forward to Christmas ones!! :)

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Today I am thankful for knowing how to shoot without the on-board flash... 

look what a nasty color the kitchen looks when I use it.... bleh. Thank you Photography 101!

I put it off until yesterday....

You know those projects that you really want to do... but just keep putting it off? I had a few on my list and since I had yesterday off (surprisingly) I thought I would take some time just for me and get it all done...  

(on top of the 3 loads of laundry, vacuuming, dishes, and taking the trash out)

 I saw this weeks ago on Nuestra Vida Dulce If you don't follow her... you should. 

Joi is one of the sweetest people ever! see the post that inspired me here.

I am so in love with it! I stare at all day... swoon. 

(and please no hate mail that I have a Christmas tree up in my bedroom already... 

I am an equal opportunity holiday decorator... my house is currently half Thanksgiving and half Christmas!)

I caught up on some much needed correspondence.... 

I love to send and receive regular old snail mail....

I swapped my Halloween Bat Tree (seen here) for a more fallish tree...

and I started on this (that I got at big lots for $2) but it's not finished...

I framed our wedding vows and hung them in the bedroom....

I have been putting this off for almost a year...

 and lastly I updated the chalkboard in the kitchen from Halloween to Thanksgiving!

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Today I am THANKFUL for my never ending supply of lip gloss. You are always poppin'. 
Mentha lipshine and Liplicious you never fail me, you are my hero in times of no makeup, and an immediate stinky breath pick me up.

Since I am also thankful for you, my readers, I thought I would beef up your lip gloss supply! 

I'll choose a random comment from this post and one lucky reader will get 4 of my favorite lip shines!! :) Whoot! Happy Tuesday!

November 1

 Is it just me or did October FLY BY!?! 

I am Thankful for November and happy to share this months shadow box... 

this month I used my Silhouette to cut the tree trunk out of paper that looked like cork and used my friends (thanks Stacey!) Martha Stewart maple leaf punch to do the leaves...

I've done this before with easy punches... if you would like the maple leaf paper punches just shoot me an email at pamela {dot} eaton {at} gmail {dot} com and the first 5 readers will have them mailed out tomorrow! You can cut out your own tree truck (try googling "leafless tree template" there are tons of images you can print and trace onto brown card stock) or use them for something else! I'd love to see what you come up with!

 

see previous months here...

march, april, may, june, july, august, september, october 

(oops, just realized I never posted about October!! Here it is... not one of my faves...)

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On a side note... each day for the month of November I will be sharing one thing that I am THANKFUL for... 30 days of thanks! Some days it will accompany a cupcake, craft, or lifestyle post, and sometimes that will be the only focus. I would love for you to join me (I think several bloggers are doing this) and we can all take some time thinking about and bring thankful for all the blessings in our lives!

I'd like to start off today being thankful for my co-workers and associates. I really love my job and it makes it even better when I have great people working with me. We are in the process of getting our seasonal associates ready for the holiday season and I could not be more pleased with the group we have this year. I am so blessed to be able to work with such a hard working, talented, team oriented group of people. I love my job and the stability it provides and I am thankful...

 

Halloween at our house

Halloween is not a BIG holiday around our house....

we dress up our puppy

we attend an annual party hosted by bestie

we give out candy (good candy)

and that's about it...

I usually don't decorate, but this year I did put a few things out...

  

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and a BIG thanks to the following people

(I added links incase you're looking for some great new blogs to read)

Seni, A.Leo, Mindy, LeAnn, Ashley, Holly, The Ultimate, The Hill House, mommara, Julie

for helping me pick our Halloween card!!

#2 was the overwhelming favorite...

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Wordfilled Wednesday: Fall to-do list

Fall is my favorite time of year

(although, sometimes I say it's summer, spring or winter)

It is also, by far my most busy time of year at work and at home.

Sometimes we get through the season and say...

"UGHHH!!!! I wanted to do ____ and I forgot"

or

 "I wish we had made time to do ____"

My summer to-do list was great.

Just a little reminder on my desk of things that I think are super fun and great for the season...

so I made another. Just for fall/winter. I dig it.

Fall Wreath

You may have seen this....

Womans Day How to Make a Candy Corn Wreath

Bestie got all the stuff together and called me over for a morning of hot glue and gossip.

{my favorite}

ps. momma... I know you are totally going to want to make one of these!! :)

I got a bag of candy corn with your name on it!! xoxo

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AND

see yesterday's post

 to vote on COLE's Halloween Costume! :)

please & thank you

Faux Bois Pumpkin

I always argue with people when they say I'm "artistic"...

no. I'm "crafty" there is defiantly a difference.

Artistic people have skill. They have excellent execution. They exhibit taste and discriminating judgment. I however, rip off get inspired by other peoples ideas and make my own.

This image is everywhere....

I am obsessed with the faux bois pumpkin

{via my facebook wall-from a friend, but originally via Country Living}

Since I am not "artistic" the thought of painting these simple black lines

on a white pumpkin really overwhelmed me.

I searched for more ideas... {i love you google images} and found this image...

{via google images via paper crave}

that lead me to this image

{a free download....eeeeeepppppp!}

I printed this out ...

cut into random strips...

rubbed pencil over the back to make it into a makeshift carbon paper...

and lightly drew over the lines with a pencil...

then drew over the pencil lines with my sharpie paint pen.

I don't LOVE it, but I like it.

maybe because my pumpkin was bigger than the one in the picture...

maybe because I have too many "knots" and not enough lines...

I will try again with a smaller pumpkin and let you know how it goes.

{I risked my life for this photo... see the HUGE spider in the right corner! eeeeekkkkk!}