Just Add Stickers

Welcome to my 3rd annual reading journal post I started in 2023 and continued the tradition throughout  2024 . This year many of the pages are the same but I have decided to make one change to the way I track audio books and physical books. The 1st year I kept them completely separate, having separate sections for reviews and trackers. Last year I kept the reviews together but tracked physical books and audiobooks separately. I always felt that the way I relate to the story is different in audio form than it is when I read a physical book. I find audio books closer to movies because you don't have to imagine the voices, the narrators bring the characters to life in a unique way.  I am also less concentrated on audiobooks, I will rarely sit listening to a  audiobook without any other distractions, I multi-task while listening to audiobooks, cleaning or walking or driving, even Christmas shopping. The other side is that audiobooks are faster to listen to than to read (espe...

Last year we had a last minute New Year's Eve party. I was inspired by a charcuterie counter setup I saw on Instagram. I covered my table and counter with brown paper. On the counter I wrote our menu for the night with arrows to where the dishes were to be placed. On the table I drew a clock with the hands pointing to just before midnight and 'Happy New Year.' I places markers and crayons.on the table amd told the kids to draw their favorite memories from the year. What we ended up with was cute scenes of going to the beach and Christmas fun. It was a lot of fun to see what the kids came up with. Happy New Year and Happy Crafting!

I always struggle to find the perfect secret Santa gift, especially for co-workers. This year I took some inspiration from Instagram, I'm not sure who did it first or even where hot the idea from but I saw someone fold a dish towel into a pocket and I thought that would be a cute gift for my co-worker who likes to bake.  I found a few tutorials on youtube on how to fold dishcloths into pockets, it's pretty simple. I added cookie mix and festive spatulas to mine. Looking around for cookie cutters to add to the gift I found cookie cutter lights for 60% off at Michael's. They are battery operated and can be set on a timer. I think they would look very cute in a kitchen window ledge or on a little tree in the kitchen.  With everything included I came in just under the 20$ budget at 17.50. I am really looking forward to gifting this Secret Santa gift!  Happy Holidays and Happy Crafting!

I was very much in the spirit of the Spooky season this year and I feel that excitement carrying over to the Christmas season (I don't know what I'm going to do in January, maybe by then I will be done with celebrating but I doubt it!) I love the feeling of making memories with the kids and make everyday meals and activities a bit more special, a little magical.  First things first, advent calendars! I thought it was fitting that I got my advent calendar order from Amazon on Oct 31st. Ok fine, I am very early but I am ready to dive in to the next season! I have a few ideas, we are going to have a few advent calendars going on, and I'm ok with that! Although, I am very last minute with this post and I guess I'm ok with that too! Little Miss wanted to buy an advent calendar again this year so we looked around and chose a jewelry and hair accessory ad entre calendar. I have to admit, it is very cute and it is reusable. Little Man did not choose an advent calendar this year...

  Now that all the decorations are up and the costumes have been decided (butterfly for Little Miss and a Creepy Dude for Little Man) it's time for the spooky food! I have shared spooky food ideas many times before on my blog and this year I have upped my presentation game by buying a spooky serving board, so logically I made a char-BOO-terie board with some of our favorite foods and some new creations.  Spooky Food: Mummy dogs (crescent roll dough wrapped around hot dogs with olives for eyes.) Witches fingers (crescent roll dough rolled out and shaped to look like fingers with peppers for finger nails.) Ghost and pumpkin tortilla pizzas (cut tortillas using ghost and pumpkin cooking cutters, use olives and peppers for eyes and pumpkin faces.) Eyes and bugs (bocconcini cheese and olives for eyes, bocconcini cheese, olives and pretzel sticks for the bugs.) Caramel Apple Board Sauces and toppings for my caramel apple board. Apples cut into slices Caramel sauce (I used ic...

I was searching for a spooky napkin holder to decorate my kitchen hutch for the spooky season. I couldn't find one that I liked but I came across this bamboo napkin holder at the dollar store. I immediately thought that it looked like a friendly little ghost.  What you need: ●Napkin holder ●White acrylic paint ●Black acrylic paint ●Clear acrylic paint (Top coat)  What to do: 1. Paint the napkin holder white.  2. Add a face to the ghost. 3. I made a cute ghost face on one side and a more serious ghost face on the other side. 4. Let the paint dry and apply the top coat.  I hope you enjoy this Boo-tiful napkin holder.  Happy Halloween and Happy Crafting. 

We made these cute ghost pictures from egg cartons to add to our Halloween mantle decorations. I am very happy with how they turned out.  What you need: ● 1 egg carton  ● White paint ● Frame ● Background (Cardstock or construction paper) What to do: 1. Cut out your eggcarton ghosts. You can use the egg cup portions or the portions that separate the eggs, depending on what shape you want your ghosts to be. 2. Paint your egg cartons ghosts all white. I also painted the inside of the egg carton because I was going to be displaying it high up and I didn't want to see the gray of the egg carton.  3. Paint a face on your ghosts. I used black paint and the back of my paint brush but a marker would work as well.  4. Prepare the frame, cut the cardstock to the size of the frame. Put the cardstock in the frame, placing the glass behind the cardstock.  5. Use the hot gun to glue the ghost to the cardstock.  Happy Halloween and Happy Crafting!