29 Books to Read in 2012

I love books! I always have! I was a very young 4 when I learned how to read and so I don't remember learning to read! I just always have! I remember my mom reading to me every night. I remember all the magazines my mom would order me because she knew I would read them. I would read my magazines cover to cover, devouring and savoring every article ... and smell. :P yeah, total book nerd here. and newspaper day was my favorite day in class. I recall looking forward to every Friday, not because it was before the weekend but because it was newspaper day! LoL. I loved the feel and smell, it seemed almost perfect. ... maybe I have issues Ha! Ha!

I would sooo love for this picture to become a reality in my house! minus the small dog... I would need a greyhound or great dane in the picture :D

Here are the 29 books I plan to read in 2012:

1. Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst
2. Learning by Karen Kingsbury
3. How to Maximize Your Child's Learning Ability by Lauren Bradway & Barbara Hill
4. Longing by Karen Kingsbury
5. The Green Smoothies Diet by Robin Openshaw
6. Louder Than Words by Jenny McCarthy
7. Home Warming by Emilie Barnes
8. A Charlotte Mason Companion
9. The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants by Ann Bradshaw
10. Momology by Shelly Radic
11. Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
12. The Twelve Teas of Inspiration by Emily Barnes
13. The Ultimate Book of Homeschooling Ideas by Linda Dobson
14. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
15. Simpler Times by Thomas Kinkade
16. The Firstborn Advantage by Kevin Leman
17. Loving by Karen Kingsbury
18. Supernanny by Jo Frost
19. Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka
20. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
21. What Every Mom Needs by Elisa Morgan & Carol Kuykendall
22. Feathers From My Nest by Beth Moore
23. Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr.
24. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
25. Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts
26. The Death Cure by James Dashner
27. The Passion of Jesus Christ by John Piper
28. The Christmas Spirit by Joel Osteen
29. A Prairie Christmas

So there you have it! I own all these books except 3. I have already started reading Made to Crave. It's pretty good so far.

A Handmade Christmas ~ Week 7

I know this certainly is not the seventh week I've posted on Handmade Christmas! I had every intention of participating weekly to help me stay on top of things and because it's fun! Oh well, No looking back - just looking forward :) Here's what I worked on this past Thanksgiving week:

Bookmark: I made this bookmark for my mom. Purple & horses are her favorite. I'm going to purchase a book for her and put the bookmark in it. I'm thinking of The Shack but not sure yet.

Fingerprint Ornaments: I made one for each set of parents. I got the idea from Girl and a Glue Gun and just turned it into a Christmas idea. :) I used Sculpey clay and play doh cutters the boys had. I also used my new Shimmerz Spritz! I wrote our names and year on the back of each with a Sharpie. It was pretty easy and I liked how they turned out.

Shimmerz

I finally received my Shimmerz order Saturday. I have wanted to try out Shimmerz forever it feels and then it took about two weeks to receive so it's been a long wait. :)

I am enjoying my little paints so far and will be posting on them soon! Tomorrow I will be linking up to A Handmade Christmas in one of my present crafts I used Shimmerz!

Happy Crafting to me!!

Thanksgiving Links

Just wanted to share some Thanksgiving/Fall links that I am enjoying:

School:

• 1+1+1=1 has a Fall Fun page filled with lots of cute downloads
• 1+1+1=1 also has a Thanksgiving Preschool Pack that I downloaded that is really neat!
• My Montessori Journey is filled with November activities! My boys have enjoyed lots of her ideas!

Home:

• Paper Glitter has a free Thanksgiving decoration download. It's really cute and I already used some of the print outs to decorate food I brought to my MOPS meeting.
• On Money Saving Mom quite a few bloggers put together a thanksgiving e-book that is free. I made the pumpkin dip recipe in there for MOPS as well and it was pretty good. My boys loved the leftovers when we got back from the meeting. I've also made the pumpkin rolls a few times and they are yummy.

Crafts:

• The Pink Elephant thanksgiving/fall cards
• Shimmerz Paints has fally ideas

Bookmarks

I've had this bookmark tutorial bookmarked since it was first posted! So yes since 2008! I finally made them. I love the idea of a "handcrafted" or "homemade" Christmas! These bookmarks are Christmas gifts for the girls in my book club. I found the charms on clearance a few weeks back at Michael's. Now I'm going to keep my eye out for charm clearances as I would like to make some for myself and a few other ladies who read frequently!

They are super easy.

Supplies Needed: + a lighter to burn the edges to keep from fraying. How They Turned Out:
Gift Ready:

In Nikki's Tutorial she has really cute pics. of them in use and all the details!

Making Diaper Care Products

I've done a good bit of sewing and crafts this summer and I wanted to post on some of it. I had a huge pile of projects and have been doing my best to work on it each week. I know I will have less time for a little while when the baby comes!

So my biggest project was making cloth diapers and wipes! This took me the longest to accomplish.

Wipes: I cut 9 x 9 squares and serged around. That is it! I used all left over fabric and stained soft t-shirts. So my total was $0!

Diapers: Took a bit longer as I did tons of research to find the best quality for the best price. Once I decided I would make them - I then had to choose a pattern! After reading cloth diaper blogs and talking w/cloth diaperers I went with Rita's Rump Pocket Pattern. I used material on hand for the outer part of the diaper. At first for the inside I used some old soft "burp cloths" and then I ran out. So I went to Jo-Anns and they actually have a material called Cloth Diaper! It's the same material that women used back in the day to cloth diaper their babies and it so rocks! I totally would have used it instead of the burp clothes for the others! So for 17 diapers my total cost came to $6 (rounded up).

My first batch

Some More - later on - so better :)

Inserts: You have to make or have inserts for Rita's Rump Pocket diapers. My stepmom bought a huge pack of washcloths and I just folded them to fit and sewn! I did end up cutting off the binding and serging it because I found it to be too bulky. I thought it would be uncomfortable.

Diaper Covers: I decided for now to buy diaper covers. For a few reasons - one being that I was feeling a bit overwhelmed w/all my sewing to do and I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed before the baby came. The last thing I wanted was to not have everything finished and convert back to disposables after all the effort I was putting in. I saved the bulk of the money through making the diapers, wipes, and inserts as that is what you need the most of. You only need a few diaper covers. So I went with Thirsties diaper covers. I found them to have the best reviews with the best price. I want to purchase a wool diaper cover but I'm having trouble with the price. I would like to have one for each size and use mainly for night time. They are suppose to be awesome.

Well I can't wait until I can post on how all these products work! Soon! Soon!