Christmas Jewelry..

For Christmas this year I made lots of jewelry.

I admit I am not a pro at this...but I'm pretty proud of myself

at how far I've come with making them look so much better then

a string of beads! (Who knew crimping beads were so awesome??!!)

This first necklace set is made for a friend of mine.

This is one of my favorite ones that I made.

It has lots of crystal beads, and the charm is a unique one.

When Dan and I were in Mount Pleasant I picked it up at an Indian

museum and all the beads there were made by the Indians that lived on the reservation

that ran this particular museum.

This set here I made for an older teen.

I'm not sure of her style so I'm hoping

she likes this.

If you look closely the "wild" design beads are actually

made from magazine pages. Yep paper beads baby!!

I use a really strong glue when I make these, so when

they dry they are rock hard.

(I'll be making a tutorial for those of you who don't

know how to make paper beads)

This set here is made for my sister in law.

She wears a lot of Harley clothes so I figured if

I went with black/white/clear she'd have some

sort of shirt to match it.

I had to get the wire to shape so now it lays flat

not all curved like the photo shows.

And look there is some more of those paper beads!

This set was made for my little cousin

who is also an older teen, but a HUGE

University of Michigan fan.

I'm sure she'll wear these with pride!

(Go Notre Dame!)

Here is a set I made for another friend of mine.

Her favorite color is purple so I'm really

hoping that she likes this set.

This photo shows more of the true color of the

beads. (wow jewelry is hard to photograph!)

She also is not a person that I've noticed wears

various earrings so instead of earrings I made her a

bracelet.

And lastly, this set is made for my Auntie.

It was very hard to get the real colors of this set.

The colors are more like turquoise stones.

This was just some of the necklaces I made

this year. I gave 4 away without photographing them.

I told ya I been busy :)

Thanks for stopping by!

I hope your Christmas was a great one and that Santa

brought YOU lots of good things!

Our Christmas Count Down

For the past couple years I've been trying to figure out how to make

a Christmas Countdown that would be simple but possiably reused...

FINALLY!!!

I don't know where I seen this idea...(Sorry I can't give credit where credit is due!!)

I thought this was a neat idea!! It's recycling, simple, cutesie/old fashioned "feel" to it...

WHo woulda ever thought to use toilet paper rolls!!

Isn't that a nifty idea!!

Now that I did a simple one, I'm thinking...hmm this could be done up really cool if you have any spare time on your hands to add great whimsy to them!! For me...well maybe another time..but for this year, these are perfect! :)

So does that mean I have officially "altered" toilet paper rolls??? LOL..

Don't it look cute!!!

All I did was tuck fold the bottoms of each end.

I stuffed candy and other goodies

in it, along with a small activity!

I was able to stuff 2 packs of funsize m&m packs into them!!

**** COUNT DOWN/HALLOWEEN TIP HERE!!! ****

On Halloween when you take your kids trick or treating,

once it's all over give them a freezer bag with their name on it.

Ask for 25 pieces of candy. When they are done seal them up and throw them in the

freezer!!

You now have your Christmas Countdown candies. They still get to eat "their"

candy...just not all at once!!! :)

Thanks Suzanne for this tip you shared with me years ago!!

P.S. Don't always expect your kids will be pleased to "hand it over" lol..

I've been wanting to find a website

that has the story of Mary and Joseph and the

birth of Jesus, where you would read a section of the

story each night but I've yet to find a website for that.

So next year I will just break the story down myself, plus have

family activites in there.

I had a hard time tho coming up with something everyday..so incase you need some ideas too I'm including our list.

Have a Merry Christmas..time is counting down..ha ha..

1 decorate the tree
2 watch rudolph
3 curl up with hot coco and read a christmas book
4 send postcards to your friends
5 say a prayer for the troops
6 Set your shoe by your bedroom door for tonite is the nite St Nick comes!
7 work on gifts you're making for family members
8 listen to christmas music and sing along
9 read a christmas book
10 watch a special christmas movie in mom's bed! (I bought the movie "8 crazy nights" and included 2 fun size m&m's)
11 have a cup of warm coco and tell us about your day!
12 say a special prayer for everyone
13 enjoy your treat (put suckers in this one)
14 make cookies
15 read a christmas book
16 say a prayer for the troops
17 read a story about Jesus
18 Take goodies to the neighbors
19 have fun at the school party today!
20 enjoy your treat while we read a christmas book (put a piece of candy inside)
21 play a game of "trouble"
22 help open and hang the christmas cards
23 have coco popcorn and watch and christmas movie
24 Hang your stockings. Read a book about Jesus and verse
25 Happy Birthday Jesus! Be sure to thank him for all he's done for you! Enjoy your day!