Bathroom Decor

I was bored with the towel rack in my bathroom and had some left over horseshoes. I decided to turn them into towel holders. I had my hubby weld a a piece of metal to the horse show and then I painted them black. I also had found an awesome toilet paper holder in Vegas. I painted it black so it would match. I also had some left over barbed wire. I painted it black and added flowers to make a cute wreath for the bathroom.

Just a quick and easy bathroom update without spending much money.

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas~Day 10 Christmas Cookies

Today was my first day of Christmas Break.I spent the day wrapping gifts, baking cookies and cleaning up. Last week was a busy week with our Christmas Performance, decorating gingerbread houses and an ugly sweater party.

Even though I have been super tired today I managed to bake and decorate 5 dozen sugar cookies.

I divided the cookies up into clear bags and put them in the gift bags I am giving out.

~Chelsea

Gingerbread Houses

Last week my class decorated gingerbread houses. We used graham crackers, icing and a ton of candy to create some wonderful houses. The kids had a blast decorating them

In the past the houses have always been sturdy and never broke. This year it has been raining and very moist outside. We noticed the gingerbread houses were more fragile than in years past. I had to take a picture of this sad little house. Some kids who had their roves collapse announced they had flat top houses like the adobe houses we had read about in a story. Third graders are very resourceful.

I had to try and make a three story house. The next day our elf Si started eating it.

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas- Day 9 Pomegranate Jelly

Pomegranate Jelly

Day 9

 A lady I work with gave me a gallon container of fresh pomegranate juice. It tastes wonderful and I was so excited to not have to squeeze pomegranate seeds. I was able to make two batches and have quite a lot of jars for gifts.

 Here is the recipe I used:

• 4 cups of pomegranate juice
• One box of powdered pectin
• 5 cups of sugar

Prepare jars and lids for canning. This recipe fills six 8 oz jars. Mix juice and pectin. Stir with a whisk until it boils. Once it boils add sugar and stir together. Bring it to a hard boil. Let it boil for 1 minute. Then pour it into jars. Place jars in large bot of boiling water for 10 minutes. After ten minutes let jars sit in pot for 5 minutes. Remove jars from pot and let them sit for 24 hours.

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas- Day 8 Chicken Feed Bags

Ten Days of Christmas Day 8- Chicken Feed Bags

Today I used some chicken feed sacks to make tote bags. I thought these might be fun to hold the gifts I am making. Overall this is a very simple project.

To start make a straight cut through the bottom of the bag and roll it inside out. Them sew along the bottom of the bag. Next to make the corners cut out a 4 inch square from the corners. Then sew them.

Now fold it right side out. To make the handles I just used left over feed sack from the top.

~Chelsea

Ten days of Christmas-Day 7 Cookies

Day 7 Trail Mix Cookies

I love these cookies. I randomly created them once. I was planning on making chocolate chip cookies and didn't have a full bag of them. I had oatmeal and some raisins and viola, I created Trail Mix Cookies. Now I make them each year at Christmas.

Here is the recipe:

It makes about 5 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3/4 cups butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 large eggs
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups oats
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda, salt, and baking powder
*Here is where the trail mix comes into play: Now add two cups of a mix of chocolate chips, walnuts, pecans,craisins, raisins or what ever else you want to add.

• Preheat oven to 350
• Mix sugars, butter, and shortening together.
• Add egg, milk and vanilla.
• In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together.
• Slowly add  dry mixture to butter mixture.
• Once mixed together add in trail mix items.
• Chill mixture in fridge for 1 hour
•  Place spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

ENJOY!

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas Day 6- Christmas Cards

Christmas Cards

Day 6

I love creating our Christmas card each year. This year I used our wreath from the front door and had our dog Sadie wear it. She is such a good sport and is very used to the silly things I make her do.

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas-Day 5 Earrings

Today I put together a few pairs of earrings. I used bronze findings and mixed crystals and pearls. With the correct tools making earrings is a quick project. I now have six cute gifts finished. All I need to do is find a cute way to wrap/display them.

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas Day 4 Bracelets

Ten Days of Christmas Day 4- Bracelets

Today I made two bracelets. I mixed crystals and pearls. I really liked the way they turned out and should had bought more crystals to make myself one.

~Chelsea

Viva Las Vegas!

Last weekend we went to Vegas for NFR. We had a BLAST!

We arrived on a Saturday and spent the day checking out Vegas. The day before was my husband's birthday so we celebrated his birthday and found a fun place to eat dinner.


On Sunday we went to the Las Vegas Convention Center for Cowboy Christmas. We spent hours looking at all the things they had. They had awesome cowboy boots, clothes, jewelry and  much more.

On Sunday night we went to NFR. It was so much fun to watch.

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas-Day 3 Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Ugly Christmas Sweater

Day 3

 So I am not actually giving this as a gift to anyone but it was just too fun not to share. After seeing this picture on Pinterest I knew I need to create these.

 Idea came from: http://www.reallyawesomecostumes.com/diy-ugly-christmas-tree-sweater/

At our school we have a Christmas performance. My class of 20 adorable third graders sang, "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree". We made the girls into the Christmas Trees. I bought the supplies (gold garland, plastic ornaments and hot glue) at Target. The girls in the class all provided a green long sleeve shirt. They loved it and it was a blast.

Merry Christmas!

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas- Day 2 Kitchen Towels

Day 2 Kitchen Towels

I put together a few kitchen towels today. I used some scraps of red fabric I had and sewed them to some dish towels I had purchased from the Dollar Store. This project was quick, easy and inexpensive.

~Chelsea

Ten Days of Christmas- Day 1 Spoons

This year I have decided to give homemade gift for Christmas. They next ten days I plan to post the gifts I make.

Day 1 Spoon Necklaces

I had four silver plated spoons left over from a project. First I polished them up since they were very dirty.

I found the alphabet stamps at our hardware store. The craft store had them but they were much more expensive. I used a rubber hammer to flatten the spoons out and then I stamped them. Next I used a hand saw to cut the spoon. I used a drill to create a hole in the spoon.

I used some ball chain and beads to finish it off. This was a very simple project and I think they will make wonderful gifts.

~Chelsea

Christmas

                                     Merry Christmas!

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas! I just couldn't wait for Christmas this year. The day after Thanksgiving I started on decorating the house. I had been on Pinterest looking at a lot of ideas for inspiration. Here are the ideas I found and my own version of them.

 I started with my porch. I created the wood sign by painting the letters J-O-Y with red paint on a piece of barn wood. The wreath was from Lowes. I purchased it at the end of the Christmas season last year when it was on sale.

I love this sign! The idea came from hometalk.com

My porch with the sign and wreath

Here is my version of the JOY sign

We also decorated the top of our barn. We made a large circle wreath with barb wire and I found a large metal star to hang with it.  We wrapped the barb wire with Christmas lights. I love how it looks at night.

We don't have a mantle to decorate so I have been trying to come up with an alternative. I found a door at an antique store and tried to create the picture below. I also wanted to try a galvanized tun instead of a tree skirt.

I love this door from unskinnyboppy.com

Here is the little door I found. I also used a galvanized tub to hold our tree. 

I had a few branched left from our tree and I wanted to put them to use. I create a little swag to hang on our chicken pen door. It was so simple and took a few minutes.

First you need three branches from your tree, scissors, floral wire, ribbon, and a few plastic ornaments.

Next lay out the three branches and wrap them with wire. Attach the ornaments and tie a ribbon to cover the wire. 

I love using Pinterest for ideas and inspiration!

Merry Christmas!

~Chelsea

Fall

I love Fall! My yard finally starts looking wonderful after all the work I put into it over the summer. The trees all start turning colors. We have been very busy around here with planting hay. This year we are planting wheat, oats and alfalfa. The weather has been unusually warm. We have only had a few days of rain and today it was in the 70's. The first field we planted at our house has started growing. It is always exciting when the grain starts coming up.

The roses in my yard have beautiful flowers on them right now. I have been enjoying the last few blooms before it get too cold for them.

I have two pomegranate trees. This year we have been able to pick a few. Our neighbor has pomegranate trees that are very large. I was able to trade her some eggs for a gallon of pomegranate juice. I put it in the freezer and plan on making jelly for Christmas.

When I was walking around the yard I spotted some paper whites coming up. It is a little early for them to come up but I will enjoy them while they are here.

Tomorrow they are calling for rain so I am glad I had the time today to enjoy my yard before winter hits.

~Chelsea