I’m going to start by saying that my big guy is such a sweet sentimental guy. I don’t know what Hubs and I did to deserve such a sweetheart, but maybe we’re doing something right.

This year each kiddo has their own tree in their room, and my super sweet, sentimental guy wanted me to make him ornaments. He told me that he wanted everyone’s name on his tree. I asked him why and he said – Because we’re a  family and I want all of you guys on my tree.   *heart melts*

Well after playing around on Silhouette Studio and not being happy with any of my ideas for our names, I decided that I was going to simplify my life a bit. We’re going to go with our monograms inside a circle. What I ended up with, I think, is timeless. I really love these ornaments, and so does the big guy. Not to mention he now knows all of our middle names.

So I’ve created a tutorial with {a lot of} pictures to walk you guys just what I did to create these wonderful little works of art.

What you’re going to need:
Cardstock
Glue or a sticker machine like  Xyron – 5” Creative Station
Glitter
Modge Podge

What I did:
I started in Silhouette Studio and a new document. Then with the type tool I typed out the first set of initials. I made sure they were all in caps to make my life easier. Then I picked a font. I ended up going with Calisto. Don’t know where I got it, but I’m going to hazard a guess that it was at dafont.com.

Next up is the circle shape tool. Hold down the shift key while you draw a circle somewhere on your page. When you’ve got about a 3” circle let go. Go to your resize screen and make your circle exactly 3” around.

Next we’re going to make an outside offset for our circle.  In the offset screen make sure your offset is set to a 1/4” and hit apply. Now highlight both of your circles (making sure not to move one or the other) and right click and click make compound path.

 Now back at your text, right click and ungroup your letters. Then drag the initial of the last name to the center of your circles.

While holding down Shift, click on the circle. Both your circles and the letter should now be highlighted. On the modify menu, go to align, and click on center-middle. This will center your letter inside the circles. This is about where I realized I was working with the wrong letter. Darn it. So I had to go back and fix it.

Now on just your letter, we want to start transforming it to fit inside our circle. With the letter highlighted, start pulling the top and bottom edges of the letter until they intersect the innermost circle. I also adjust the width of my letter so that it is just under 1” wide. Recenter your letter inside the circles by repeating the step from above.

 Now grab one of your other letters and bring it to the circle. I started with the middle initial, which is why its going on the right side of the letter we just worked on. I just eyeballed where I thought the center of this letter was in the white space next to the right of the center. Now stretch this letter so that the top and bottom intersect the inner-most circle.

When positioning these side letters, I try to space them so that the bounding box of the letter is even with the center letter. That gives me enough of a margin between the letters, so that it doesn’t look crowded. Highlight the letter and the circles, go up to the object menu and click on align, this time click on middle. This should center your letter in the circle, without moving it on top of the letter we were just working on. Repeat for the last letter.


Now highlight all of the letters and the circles and weld them. I try to not have any of my letters extend past the outer circle, because it makes it easier to weld. Weld all of your shapes and letters.


*If your letters extend past the outer circle then instead of welding everything right now, you will click on subtract all. Then click on the individual shapes that are outside of the outer circle and delete them. Now highlight everything again and weld again. Sometimes after doing this you need to go in and adjust or delete some of the points, but not always.

Now we’re going to make another small circle to  hold a ribbon or an ornament hanger. I did this on only two ornaments, because I got the first 3 done before I had my Eureka! moment. Click on the circle shape again, and while holding shift make about a 1/2” circle. Go back to the resize menu and resize the circle to 1/2”, if need be.


Now click on the offset window again, and this time click on internal offset. Keep reducing your offset circle until it is 1/4” big.

Highlight both small circles and right click. Click on the Make Compound Path.

Now move your circles to about top center of your monogram. I try to line up the outer edge of the ornament with the inner edge of the smaller circle. with everything highlighted click on the object menu and click on align. Now click center. This will horizontally center your smaller circle against the ornament.

Highlight everything and weld it all together.

Move your ornament to the top left corner of your paper. Make sure to stay within the cutting margins of your paper. Go to the Clone menu and click on the column of three. Now you should have three copies of your ornament.

Move one of the copies to the upper right corner, and move the last one below and centered the other two. This will maximize your leftover paper.

Following the instructions to cut out your ornaments. Remove the ornaments from the cutting mat, and toss the negative space. I would keep the larger paper though, because that bottom half could be used for something.

Now that you have 3 identical ornaments cut out its time to layer them together. This is where my Xyron comes in handy. At least it would if I hadn’t run out sticker stuff. Oh well, we’re going to do this last ornament old school. Bring out the glue stick! On the wrong side of your ornament apply glue everywhere, paying special attention to any small or dangling areas. Making sure to have your ornaments lined up correctly, glue two of the pieces together. Make sure everything is firmly adhered and lined up. Glue the remaining ornament on top of the two ornaments you just glued together. Your ornament now has some beef to it.


Time to paint some Modge Podge on this baby. I covered both sides of my ornament in Modge Podge. It was messy, but it got the job done. Immediately after I was done painting both sides of the ornament, I popped it into a bowl of German glass glitter and gently shook it around, unfortunately that was taking too long so I dumped some more glitter on top of my ornament. Then fish out the ornament, I used an ornament hanger, and hang to dry.

Then hang on tree and enjoy.




Wondering about the monogram I made in this tutorial? Its our friend who stays with us quite often. The boys think of him as part of the family, so when I was making these family ornaments, Dev was quite adamant that I found out Evan’s middle name and make him an ornament too.  Such a sweetheart! Oh and its still drying.

Well I hope you guys have liked this little tutorial. I had a blast making these and they’re so very easy and personal. I may have to make up some more to decorate Christmas gifts with!

Have a great day ya’ll.

So now that I'm sick and I have time to contemplate what I want to accomplish I have devised a new list of goals.

Firstly - I want to get better.
Second - I'd like to be able to finish 5 miles. I don't care how long it takes me, but I want to do it.
Third - To consistently lose weight throughout the month of December.
Fourth - Win one of the raffle prizes in the contest I'm participating at the gym. I know this is not up to me, but it would be nice!
Fifth - Get down to 260 pounds. Only 9 more to go!

I think 5 goals is enough. Don't you?

Do you have any goals this holiday season?

Oh my goodness. Who's life suddenly got ten times busier? The dirty dishes have languished, sleep has been sacrificed, and I have only cooked once. Thankfully, it was a fun, delicious new recipe made from Thanksgiving leftovers. Let's face it, we all love Thanksgiving dinner, but the third or four repeat gets a little old.

Sausage, Kale, and Cranberry Pasta
Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray

1 lb rigatoni
Salt
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1/2 lb hot bulk Italian sausage
1/2 lb sweet bulk Italian sausage
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 med red onion, thinly sliced
3/4 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
3/4 cup dry red wine, eyeball it
1 1/4 lb kale, stems removed and chopped
Black pepper
1/8 to 1/4 tsp nutmeg, to your taste
3/4 cup Romano cheese, 3 generous handfuls, plus some to pass at the table

Boil a large pot of water for the pasta. Add rigatoni and salt and cook to al dente or with a bite to it. Drain and reserve 2 ladles of pasta water.

While pasta cooks, heat extra-virgin olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage, brown and crumble it, then add garlic and onions and cook until tender 5 to 6 minutes. Add cranberry sauce and wine and stir to combine then reduce a minute. Add kale in bunches and stir to wilt down. Add the reserved pasta water. Season the dish with salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Add pasta to the pan with sausage and kale. Top pasta with cheese and toss with kale mixture to combine. Serve immediately with extra cheese for topping.

Hey guys! I'm sick - you wanted to know that didn't you.

So since I've been ordered to rest and have plenty of fluids along with my codeine-laced cough syrup (which is disgusting, btw) I asked the hubs to take some shots of our Christmas mantle.

It is similar to last's years mantle. I liked last year's mantle so why change it?



I still love that mixed nut wreath from last year, although I have been thinking of making it a bit more festive. Maybe next year.

Oh and just to refresh your memories - last year's mantle looked like this

See you guys next week! I can't wait to show off the house. :)

So I was feeling pretty awesome after the 5k on Saturday, then Sunday showed up and I ached. A lot. My calves and hips were aching pretty bad. Ibuprofen helped, so I went to aqua fitness on Monday. That didn't help. My calves hurt more after doing several laps of 'twinkle toes'. Oh well.

The Tuesday showed up and my plans changed so I didn't go to the gym, but Tuesday night I was feeling pretty pathetic. I was freezing. Piles of blankets did not help, a warm bath did, but I was also starting to cough. Crap.

Wednesday I felt better, so off to Zumba I went. I had a good  workout and I felt really good, aside from sweating my butt off, but I figure I can sweat whatever I'm fighting out of me. Cue - Wednesday night. The sweating did not ease up - even getting dinner served was a nightmare. I was hot, then cold. I'm coughing and it hurts a lot. I feel like there is a an 80 pound weight pushing down on my sternum. My throat hurts but not up high near the back of my mouth, no it hurts down low, near my collar bone. Eff.

Enter Thursday morning- this morning. I feel awful. Someone must've packed sandbags around me last night because everything aches. I feel like I've been beaten, but there are no bruises. I have no voice. Makes fussing after the kids fun. Any physical activity sends me into a hacking fit where I may or may not spit something up. This in turn leads to a fiery burning sensation in my chest and throat. Awesome.

I'm leaving for the doctor soon. Hopefully they can tell  me something, because I feel like hell and the stupid thermometer is telling me that my temp is 97.8. Its lying. I know it is. Stupid electronic piece of crap.

I hate being sick, and I hate that I'm missing the gym. Hopefully I can make it to zumba on Saturday. I hope.

I wanted to post this project up Monday, but then Monday came and went and Tuesday came and I now have a cold, so there went Tuesday and now here we are on the eve of Wednesday and I'm finally sharing the bestest tree skirt ever.


This pattern is actually an old one that I had. Its the same pattern that is around my living room tree, except I changed it a little bit. :)

{McCall's Pattern 6453)

Now this pattern is not the one I used, but the skirt is similar. My pattern is out of print {I told you it was old}.

So anyways, I altered my pattern so that each of those 8 scalloped sections was ruched. In order to do this, I measured some paper to a length of 54". I had to cut two lengths of paper to 54" in order to be able to fit the whole pattern on it. Then I taped the pieces together and found the center of both ends of the paper.

Using the center mark of the paper, I lined up the pattern at the bottom of the paper and transferred the bottom curve. Then I moved  the pattern to the top of my paper and transferred the curve there. I made to clearly mark where my curves ended so I could match up my lines.


Then I just connected the two curves. This took some creative ruler making, but I made it work. Don't you just love the fedex thing to extend my ruler?

So after that was done, I just cut 8 pieces of tulle from this pattern. Gathered up each long side and basted it to the white muslin that I was using as the backing fabric. Then it was easy peasy to sew each section to another (leaving one open) and then adding some batting and the bottom of the tree skirt. After that was done I added some grosgrain ribbon to hide the seams and the feather trim for some fun. :)



Now isn't that a fun tree skirt? I love how flirty and girly it is. I did not enjoy being eaten alive by glitter. The glitter that is one that tulle must have the best adhesive ever, because I have glitter on my chest that has not come off even after bathing and showering. I think I may need  to scrub harder or something. Maybe I'm just transferring glitter from me to the loofah and back again. Oh well. I will beat this glitter problem. :)

Guys, I haven't cooked a thing since Thanksgiving. We have been eating leftovers, literally, all week. But I have a project to share with you instead. A project! Me? Indeed! I have actually finished a project. For those of you that don't know, I am notorious for buying all the materials for a project and then never getting to it. Thankfully, this one only took me about five minutes.

Today was my very first event ever, and I wish I had picked a different one.

I was so excited to show off some ornaments for Harrison's tree today, but fate poked her annoying head into my plans, so now I'm going to show you a humongous fail and some wins.

So here are the ornaments that I've been working on.
Do you see my pile of craft stuff? Yep, that's all stuff I've been using to alter these plain Jane ornaments. I had 12 ornaments. I've made 3 beaded covers, which I showed off yesterday, and then I tried painting 6 of them. 4 of those 6 ornaments were a fail, the 2 green ones above were not fails. The other 2 ornaments up there were my redo's. I have one ornament that I'm currently beading, and I can't find the other one. I don't know where it went. I had it on the table with me this afternoon as  I was painting these ornaments, then we had dinner and now I can't find it. Grumble. Oh well - moving on.

So I painted 6 ornaments and only 2 came out right. I don't get it either. They were all enamel paints. I followed the directions. Why did those green ones come out right? I wish I knew, because there was a lot of time  waiting for these things to dry was painfully slow. Here's what the other 4 ornaments looked like after trying to bake them.
Why did the paint peel? Well there are 4 trashed ornaments.

But I'm not going to be deterred so easily. I pulled out my oil-paint sharpie markers in black and brown and started making my animal print ornaments. I free-handed these two ornaments and just filled in with the marker. I had planned on adding glitter to these guys, but after getting everything colored in I decided that they didn't need it.

After I got the zebra one painted, I started on the giraffe one. I happened to have a metallic gold acrylic paint downstairs so I painted the inside of the giraffe ornament after the paint on the outside dried, which didn't take long - thankfully. :) I still need to paint the inside of the zebra ornament, but at least the giraffe ornament is done.
So those are the ornaments that I've gotten done lately.

Hopefully my missing ornament shows up so I can finish my plans. :) I still have more ornaments to make, and I do want to show off all the new trees, so that will be coming up next week!

See you guys later,