My first Thanksgiving [in photos]!

So how was everyone's Thanksgiving? I've had a CRAZY week (more on that later...) and am just now getting around to blogging about mine. Seeing as it's now December that's a major fail, but what can ya do?

I won this 'GiveThanks' banner in a blog giveaway and I LOVE it! It has the perfect fall colors and I knew instantly that I would hang it behind the dinner table.

This is the centerpiece I made for the table. I measured the candle and cut out a circle with a sharp knife and then I hollowed out the pumpkin and rubbed allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon inside of it. My house smelled wonderful! Once the candle was in I started cutting leaves and berries from a fall leaf garland I got from Michaels and placed them all around the candle. It was so easy and I love how it came out!





















Cayden looked so cute on his first Thanksgiving! He was full of smiles!

















As you know I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year! I had so much fun putting everything together but it is HARD work! I woke up and started right away baking my annual cherry pie. I made the dough and let it refrigerate while I worked on the filling. I still haven't learned how to properly lattice the top so it always looks messy but believe me, it tastes delicious!





















The funny thing is that I was going by a 14 lb turkey recipe and failed to think that my 20 lb turkey might just take a little longer to cook. We didn't end up eating until 7pm but thankfully no one complained so it all worked out! The turkey turned out gorgeous and was SO yummy! I think it may have been my biggest cooking accomplishment yet! I was so mad at my mom because she picked it up and put it on the serving tray and totally mutilated it before I got a good picture, but I did manage to snap this one which shows how yummy and golden brown it looked!

All of my sides came out so yummy! Garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, , asparagus and of course stuffing!

To top it all off, I ended the meal with a homemade apple crisp topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce! I made this specifically for my sister who was too full to eat it in the end! What a brat!

The day was a success! I may or may not have Tweeted 'I AM THE THANKSGIVING MASTER!' that night... But everything turned out great and I couldn't be happier to spend the day with those I love most! Mando, my mom, my sister and I sat around the table and I made everyone say what they are thankful for. (Yes, I am that person. We sounded like a bad Lifetime movie!) Hopefully this can be a new tradition for my new family.

After dinner my mom stayed the night so we could wake up early the next morning and go shopping without worrying about bringing Cayden out in the cold. We spent way too much money of course but ended up buying presents for all the babies in the family plus some crafty stuff for me to make some presents! I seriously can't wait to get started!

Crafty Mommies (part 2)

Some of you may remember my post a few months ago wanting to start a monthly crafting club with some other moms. I thought it would be fun to share ideas and inspiration and see what others come up with because I know a lot of my readers are amazingly creative and crafty. Well, I got a great response and Crafty Mommies was born! Every month we submit ideas and vote on what craft we’d like to do and work on it over the next couple of weeks. Once we’re done we share pictures of the completed project on the Facebook page I created. We also do a monthly card trading club where we pick a card theme for that month (Christmas, birthday, thank you, etc.) and we each create 1 identical card for each participating member and mail them to each other. At the end of the month we all end up with unique handmade cards to either use or collect – one from each member! I love doing this because 1) it’s fun seeing the different things that everyone comes up with, and 2) I always have a card if I forgot to buy one for a last minute occasion! We currently have 8 members and are growing!

October was our first month and we decided to do paper mache pumpkins (you can see how mine turned out here) and a birthday card. I did a sweet and simple cupcake card using a die-cut machine, some tulle, and a pack of rhinestones. I love how it turned out!




































I got so many cute and unique cards from the other members (below) and I can’t wait to see what they come up with this month!

















If anyone else is interested in joining it’s not too late to sign up! We are always accepting new members and we don’t care if you’re a beginner or a pro… everyone is welcome! This month we are making a Thanksgiving table centerpiece of your choice and the card theme is Thank You. If you’d be interested in signing up you can comment here or email me (found in the contact page here). We’d love to have you!


My fellow Crafty Mommies also have some great blogs. Make sure to pay them a visit!


Heather
Amy
Katy
Jessica
Jen
Kerry



Happy crafting!

Crafty Mommies!

Ever since I was a little girl I have LOVED doing arts and crafts. I remember making stuffed animals with my sister by cutting my mom's sheets (oops!) into animal shapes and stuffing them with cotton balls. I used to make my own paper dolls by cutting models and outfits out of magazines. In 3rd grade we had a 'nuts and bolts' box filled with random things like pipe cleaners, buttons, glitter, paper scraps and we got 30 minutes every day to just create whatever came to mind. I was obsessed. (I actually plan to steal this idea when I become a 2nd or 3rd grade teacher in a few years). Needless to say, being creative has been a huge part of my life. I've recently started going scrapbooking every Wednesday (mommy's night off) with my best friends and sister and that creative outlet is like air in my lungs. I love it. I'm always scouring the aisles at Michael's just looking for the next thing to inspire me.

Now that I'm a (working) mother, I realize that I might not have as much time to do crafty things, but I still think it's important to set aside some time to do the things I love. I came up with the idea to do a monthly craft club. With the holidays coming up (YES!!!!!) there's so many things I want to make... decorations for Halloween and Christmas, baked goods, gift baskets, Christmas presents, scrapbooks... the list goes on and on. I thought it might be fun to invite others to participate in a monthly craft with me! Every month someone can 'host' and come up with a fun craft for everyone to do. Then when we're done we can take pictures and share them and possibly link blogs in hopes of getting even more people to join. OR we can just submit craft ideas each month and vote on which one we would like to do. It doesn't have to require advanced skills, just something challenging yet fun for us all to do!

Also, another idea I had was a card trading club. My scrapbooking instructor introduced me to this idea a few months ago and I LOVE it! Basically, every month we create a handmade card. This can be for any occasion... Christmas, sympathy, get well soon, Mothers Day, thank you, etc. Then we trade the cards by mailing them off to each other (and we rotate each month). In a short time, we will all have a little collection of cute handmade cards for every occasion that we can either keep or use/give away! I love paper crafts so this is right up my alley. I even have a card making book that gives good ideas for templates and design that I can't wait to put to good use!

I've already gotten 3 people who are interested on Twitter, but I want to try and get 5-10 people who might want to participate to make it more fun. If either or both ideas sound like something you might be interested please leave me a comment and make sure to include your email address. I'm going to send out an email within the next few days to introduce everyone and go over the details. I'm so excited, I think this will be really fun!