Quote of the Week: Born to do This

"I am not afraid....

I was born to do this." 

- Joan of Arc

(This reminds me of my motto.)

Weekend Wonders: The One with Fall Decor

In the last Weekend Wonders post, I highlighted some awesome fall wreaths I've seen around the web. This week I'm featuring some of the awesome fall decor I have seen on various blogs.

Book Page Pumpkin

I love anything made out of book pages and think this book page pumpkin at Creations by Kara is absolutely adorable.

Swirly Pumpkin and Leaf Garland

I love this simple pumpkin and leaf garland over at Happy Clippings.

Framed Leaves

These framed leaves from Dream Home are simple but cute.

Fall Vases

I love these simple fall vases from Choose to Thrive.

Fall Bucket List

This fun Fall Bucket List free printable is offered by Loves of Life.

Free Fall Printable

How cute is this little freebie printable complete with acorns, a leaf, and an owlie over at C.R.A.F.T!

Fall Foods
The CSI Project theme for this week was "fall foods" and there are TONS of great fall food ideas and recipes linked up!

Five Minute Friday: Extraordinary Motherhood

It’s Friday – the day where I join other bloggers and take five short minutes to just write from the heart. Five Minute Friday is hosted by Gypsy Mama and this week’s prompt is ordinary. 


Sometimes I long to be more ordinary. In some ways, I think I am ordinary or maybe average.  I’m a Mom to three children. It seems pretty ordinary until you examine things a little closer and then you may realize its “extra” ordinary.

My first child, Noah, has special needs and is in a wheelchair, doesn’t talk, etc. That’s not ordinary. That colors almost every decision and every aspect of my life and makes it extraordinary. I’m not saying it’s bad, it’s just different.

My second child, Charlie, was placed in an open adoption directly following his birth. Statistically speaking, that’s not ordinary.

And my third child, baby Darcy, became an angel before she was even born. While it does make me sad at times, I’ve come to peace with it and find it absolutely extraordinary that my first meeting with my little girl will be in heaven.

Motherhood may seem ordinary to some but to me and my children, each with their own story, it’s extraordinary.

Wine Glass Candle Lamps

I shared how to make these fun, easy, and inexpensive wine glass candle lamps over at Someday Crafts last week. 

To make this project you are going to need:

2 wine glasses (Check thrift stores and The Dollar Stores to get them cheap.)

2 battery operated candles (I found these at The Dollar Store as well.)

Scrapbook Paper (If you are using 12 x 12 you can get 2 shades out of 1 sheet.)

Cardstock

Lamp Shade Template

Glitter Paint

Paint brush

Sticky Strip or Terrifically Tacky Tape

Dimensionals or Pop Dots

Scissors

What You'll Do:

1. Print out your template and cut it out. Trace it on to the back of your scrapbook paper and cut it out. (You may want to practice on a piece of scrap paper first just to make sure you don't need to adjust the template any to better fit the size of your particular wine glass.) 

2. Cut a piece of sticky strip to fit the shade and place it on the back of the scrapbook paper which will be the inside of the shade. 

3.  Adhere the shade together using the sticky strip.

4. Now comes the fun part - decorate! Cut out a few little spiders out of cardstock. I used my Silhouette to do this but you could free hand them, find one online, or use a sticker. Paint the legs of your spiders with glitter paint just to give them a little shine.

5. Adhere your spiders to your shades using pop dots.

6. Add your candles to the wine glasses and pop on the shades!

So cute! 

The great thing is you can easily make more shades to switch them up for different holidays......

Like Thanksgiving or Fall 

Or for Christmas!

And don't forget every day! 

(Linking up to the crafty link parties listed in my sidebar)

Matching Jerseys

On Saturdays (during football season) you can always find my guys in their matching Clemson jerseys. 

So cute!

Linked to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

and 5 Minutes for Moms

Halloween Match Book Treats

I was trying to come up with some cute Halloween treats and saw a similar idea over at Kerry's Paper Crafts and played with a bit to make it my own.

I love how these turned out - super adorable.

They are like a match book and are stapled in the front. The staple is covered by the embellishment. The inside holds a little individual package of Skittles and to close it you just tuck the top piece back behind the embellishment.

Want to know how I made them??

You are going to need:
Solid colored Cardstock
Printed Halloween themed scrapbook paper
stapler
glue dots
pop dots
scissors/paper trimmer
1 1/2 inch circle punch
slightly larger scallop punch
candy (My measurements will work with the individual bags of M&Ms or Skittles. For anything else you may need to adjust the measurements.)

How to do it:

1. Out of the solid cardstock, you will cut a piece to be 8 1/2 inches long and 3 inches wide. You will score that piece at 3 inches (lengthwise) and at 7 inches.

2. Out of your patterned scrapbook paper, you will cut a piece 8 1/2 inches long and 2 1/4 inches wide. You will score that piece in the same spots as the base piece, 3 inches and 7 inches.

3. Adhere the overlay (the smaller piece) to the cardstock base piece using glue dots. You will center the overlay on the cardstock. Fold it up and make sure it is all aligned and folds ok.

4. Add your treat inside and fold up the bottom. Staple the bottom of the Skittles (or whatever candy you are using) to the bottom flap. Now you should be able to tuck the top part inside the bottom part.

5. You could really embellish these anyway you like, but to do it like I did, you'll need to print out these super cute (and free) little Halloween labels onto white cardstock. Use your circle punch (I used 1 1/2 inch punch) to punch them out. Punch out a slightly larger (mine is 2 inches) scalloped circle out of coordinating colors of cardstock. Glue the Halloween label onto the scalloped circle using a glue dot. Adhere this to the front of your treat holder covering up the staple using a pop dot. This allows it to stick out just a little bit so now you can tuck the top part of the treat holder underneath the scallop.

Cute and fun!

Onion Soup Pork Chops and Rice

This recipe is similar to something that my Mom used to make when I was younger and I recently made it and tweaked it a little bit. The pork chops are so incredibly tender and the rice has amazing flavor and that's coming from someone who really isn't a big rice eater.

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops
1 cup of white rice
1 dry onion soup packet
1 small onion
cooking spray

Directions:
1. Cut your onion. I just cut mine into strips but if you'd prefer to dice it then go right ahead.
2. Spray your pan with cooking spray and sauté your onions until golden brown. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside.
3. Add a bit more cooking spray and then brown your pork chops in the same pan. You don't really need to worry about them getting cooked all the way through. Just brown them for some color.
4. In a glass baking dish, add the cup of rice. Add about 1/2 - 3/4 of your onion soup packet and your cooked onions on top of the rice. Add 3 cups of hot water and stir.
5. Add your browned pork chops to the dish and sprinkle with the remaining soup mix.
6. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes or until the pork chops are cooked throughout and the liquid has evaporated.

Enjoy!

It's October!

Happy October, friends!

One sort of fun thing that the first of new month brings for me is changing my desktop background. This month I choose a fun Halloween themed one from LeeLou Blogs. I decided to use a picture of Noah from Halloween 2008 dressed as a Wizard because it fit in well with the purple in the background.

October is going to be a busy month! My first craft show this year is in October. I'm pretty much ready but just need to package things up and I'm making some fall themed candy type treats that I'll be finishing up and blogging in the next week or so. J and Noah will be taking a little day trip to Charlotte, NC with J's work to go to Carowinds (while I am at the craft show.) Noah doesn't know about this yet but I know he is going to have a blast and will be excited. He loves riding roller coasters!

October also means the obvious - Halloween. Last year was the first year Noah hasn't dressed up. I asked him what he wanted to do this year. He doesn't want to dress up but has requested an orange shirt with the itsy bitsy spider on it. So I'll of course be working on that soon!

October is also the month Noah was born! He'll turn 15 on the 25th so I have a small party to be planning!

I hope to finish getting my Halloween decorations up tomorrow. So I'll share that with you all too. Lots of good stuff coming up so stay tuned!

Guest Blogging at Someday Crafts

Today I am guest blogging at one of my favorite blogs, Someday Crafts. I am sharing how to make these adorable wine glass candle lamps. 

Go check it out! 

Sleeping Angel Choir Boy

If you have been reading this blog for long, you know that Noah has a "pose" that he does that my Mom and I have nicknamed the "angel choir boy." (See post 1 and post 2.) 

Recently my BFF and family came to visit and spent the night. Noah was sleeping in our bed and I went in our room to talk to J and found Noah sleeping in the angel choir boy pose. Of course I had to run get my camera and snap a few shots. (And no, it didn't wake him up either!)

Linked to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

and 5 Minutes for Moms

Quote of the Week: Life is Like a Piano

"Life is like a piano - 

what you get out of it 

depends on how you play it."

- Unknown

Weekend Wonders: The One with Fall Wreaths

Earlier this week, I shared my cute little fall argyle wreath - with an owlie!

While I was looking for inspiration for my own wreath I saw lots of other cute fall wreaths out there and decided to highlight some of them in this week's Weekend Wonders. 

Fall Felt Wreath

I love the colors of this simple fall felt wreath created by Anne at Lady Anne's.

Fall Yarn Wreath

This yarn wreath made in fall colors at Indie Spotting is beautiful. 

Felt Fall Leaves Wreath

I love this simple wreath adorned with felt leaves (look at the stitching on some of them!) from Storehouse Crafts. 

Happy Fall Wreath

I love this classic burplap fall wreath from Story Crafting and the "happy fall" bunting just makes it cuter!

Fall Leaf Initial

Last but not least is this fall leaf initial from The Thrifty Abode. I love the uniqueness of it!