Idea for Christmas Craft

A friend was looking for an idea to use store bought candle holders, and I came up with this idea. If they are different colored glass (or even all the same) you can stack them up and create a glass Christmas tree. You can stick little "ornaments" into the candle holder and add a star at the top or something... just an idea.

#126 - Okay... I'm done with snow

We got about 6 inches last night/this morning and I wanted to take a picture of our driveway. I should have taken one before we shoveled it. That's right, we shovel that beast of a driveway. I'm in the bedroom above the garage, so you don't actually see the whole driveway. It takes 1-2 hours to shovel it completely. At least some of it melted today.

#66 - Spiders, Spiders everywhere

So... the theme today was spiders. I, like a lot of people, am extremely afraid of spiders. I hate them. I hate looking at them, being near them, and even thinking about them.

So, I took a photo of a spider that I'm not afraid of. :) I thought it was pretty creative to take a photo of a sticker. These are Halloween stickers from last year that I still have left over.

#65 - Get to the Thermostat Stat!

Here's a reading of today's thermostat in the house. Not too bad! We haven't turned the heat on yet. I'm hoping to get a little further into the month before we have to turn the heat on. I hate turning the heat on in October. I feel like a wuss.

I will turn it on if it gets below 63 degrees. During the winter we don't go over 67 and don't go below 63. That's my breaking point.

My sophomore year of college we kept the heat at 58... burr. My room was so freezing I could barely write my papers, and I slept with a heating blanket on (not safe, but I did what I had to). Now that we can afford heat, I'm going to keep it comfortable but affordable. No more 58 for me.

#64 - Horribly Horrendous Horror Film

This is one of the only horror/gore films that I own. I've watched it once. I bought it from a Blockbuster in their previously viewed section. What a waste of money.

The first 30 minutes of this film is pretty much just soft porn and lots of female chest shots. Then it switches over to straight up repulsive gore. Yuck.

Next time, I'm just going to rent a horror film instead of buying one.

#63 - My Favorite Artist is....

GODSMACK

Best band ever! This is my all-time favorite album by my favorite band. I talked about this awhile back but I feel that it should be brought back up.

If you're looking for some good rock, check out Godsmack. This album is Faceless. I could listen to it any day of the week, all day long.

Check it out!

#62 - Something new

This is my brand new Kindle (3rd generation)!

I received it as a birthday gift from my husband. He gave it to me the Friday before my birthday and before it was even my birthday, I had already read 2 books! :) I love it and I keep finding more and more things to put on it.

This is a wonderful invention. I'm so glad my husband is so thoughtful!

#61 - Something borrowed

It was hard to find something that was borrowed to fit into today's theme. We don't really borrow things and so I had to search the house. I came up with this... a book a that I borrowed from my oldest brother.

The book is Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. I've tried reading it a few times, but it's been very difficult for me to get through it. It's not my type of book I guess. He told me I should read it, so that's why he gave it to me.

I really need to get it back to him. I don't see myself finishing this book. I might give it one more chance, but I don't know if I can.

#60 - Blue

I have so many blue things in my house. This was the first thing to grab my attention. It's a tie blanket that I received from my little sister in the sorority a few years ago. On one end it says "Big Sis Bridget" (pictured) and at the other end it says "Little Sis Gillian".

I love this blanket and use it almost every day. Samus the cat loves it too. In fact, she's laying on it right now.

#59 - Something old

This is the handkerchief that I carried on my wedding day. It was my mom's and she gave it to me to keep. I think it fits nicely with the something old as well as the something blue. I'm glad I had it that day in my hands and I will keep it for as long as possible and possibly hand it down to one of my future children.

#58 - 5 day forecast

Here's the upcoming forecast. It's blue skies for the week! I know it's not a very good photo, but it's one of a computer screen.

It's actually going to be unseasonably warm which is nice for fall. Hopefully the cold doesn't come too soon.

#57 - Favorite Candle... for now

This past summer I bought this candle. It was a great summer candle. It's a Yankee Candle. The fragrance is Juicy Watermelon. I could only burn it for a few hours because the smell would permeate through out the house. I've put it away for now because it's now fall and the scent isn't quite right for the season.

I'll probably not buy Yankee Candles any more... not because they aren't good candles but because I'm now going to be a Partylite Consultant. It's a direct sales company that sells candles and home decor among other things. I'm excited to start selling. I should be getting my start kit soon, so I can start holding parties.

The Martini glass is one of their new seasonal products. It's called Scents of Illumination Martini. It has a candy cane scent. You put a tealight in side and it heats up the gel, releasing the scent.

#56 - In the Hoodies

I love being able to wear sweatshirts! Here are just a few of mine. I believe I have about 8 or 9. I have them throughout the house so I can always grab one when I need one.

The second photo is of my favorite one and also my oldest one. I got this sweatshirt when I was 16 in Germany in 2002. It's one of my favorite souvenirs that I got from my trip to Europe. I hope to put it into my tee-shirt quilt that I'm going to start making soon.

#55 - Signs of Fall

Here are my photos of fall. The first one is off of our deck and of trees in the neighbors yard. You can see the trees starting to change colors.

The second photo is of all the leaves on our deck. Ed is going to have lots of fun sweeping the deck off.

The third photo is also off of our deck in another direction. A lot of the leaves are already falling and lots have turn yellow.

#54 - Fall Flowers

My mom got me a fall plant for my birthday. Here's a photo of some of the flowers on this mum plant. They are very beautiful. The toughest part is trying to keep the cats away from them so they don't eat the leaves.

#53 - Oooo, you're my best friend

This is an oldie but a goody. This is a photo of my husband and I about 4 years ago. He's my best friend and I just love this photo. We were on a dinner cruise on Lake Superior for my 21st birthday that year. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past.

#52 - Random Object

Random object in a room. I looked around my house trying to find something that seemed random for a room. I found this. It's Ed's musical electric coin bank (did you get all that?). It's on his dresser. It's just a weird bank and it doesn't really belong in our bedroom, but that's where it lives.

#51 - Look Who's Sleeping

I didn't take this picture today, but it's the one of the few that I have of someone sleeping (today's theme). I don't think Ed would have liked it if I had posted a photo of him sleeping.

The little one in this photo is my niece, Zoey. She's about 3 days old here (taken 7/23). I don't get to see her very often since they live about 200 miles away. I thought this would be a good one for "someone sleeping".

#50 - Purple is that purple does

Here's another photo of my crafting. This is my cross stitch craft bin. The reason I took a photo of it is because it's purple which is today's theme. I'm working on a quilt that I meant to get done weeks ago, but I just haven't felt like working on it. It will get done eventually (hopefully). :)

#49 - Orange as orange can be

The theme today was something orange. I had such a hard time with this! We really don't have many things that are orange... which seems a little weird. I looked around the house and I found this in the kitchen. It's one of the few orange items we have.

I bought this strainer my junior year of college. I think I got it from the dollar store or the dollar bin at Target. I don't remember which. the only reason I bought an orange one was because at the time, the kitchen in our renal apartment has bright orange counter tops... they were very trendy!

#48 - New kitty in town

Introducing our new kitten, Kristof! He's about 4.5 months in this picture. He was an outdoor kitten and is almost feral. We're hoping he gets a little better with the house and enjoys his new life here. As of now, we can pet him, but we have to be sitting on the floor. He tends to run if we're standing. He's very skittish and shy but I feel with time he will get better. He also hates being held.

#47 - Cleaning Products

I love love love my cleaning products! Here they are. These are the ones I have handy right now (Pictured left to right/back to front):

• Dish soap
• Best in Glass (glass cleaner)
• Tub-in-Tile (shower cleaner)
• Lil' Bowl Blu (toilet cleaner)
• Hand soap (sweet rain)
• Kitchen hand soap (lemon grass)
• Not pictured: All surface cleaner

They are all from my favorite line, Method. You can pick it up at Target.

#46 - Celebrate Good Times

My birthday is coming up and since today's theme is "Celebration", I decided to take photos of the cards I've gotten. Here are the ones I have so far.

#45 - Bravo, Bravo

I love Bravo TV. It's one of my favorite channels. I like to watch Top Chef, Top Design, Shear Genius, Work of Art, etc. They have some of the best reality shows. I took a picture of one that was on today, even though I don't care to watch it. This is a photo of Jeff Lewis on Flipping Out.

It's about an OCD guy that flips houses for a living. This guy just rubs me the wrong way but I guess people enjoy watching him.

#44 - Oh Juicy!

This is our "Juice Box" in our fridge. Every day Ed gets a box of juice with his lunch. He gets the Minute Maid boxes and the Fruitables are for me. I bought them hoping he would like them, but he doesn't (they have mostly vegetables in them). I like them because I'm such a picky eater and these help give me the veggies I need while still tasting good.

#43 - Cloudless Sunny Day

I was supposed to take pictures of clouds on a sunny day... well, it's sunny but there are no clouds! It's a beautiful day! We definitely need more of these before it gets too cold and the snow starts flying.

#42 - Remembrance is hard

This is a difficult subject for me to cover. Almost 5 years ago (on 11/16/2005) I lost my cousin, LCPL Roger W. Deeds, in Iraq. He was killed while trying to extract other wounded soldiers.

This hit my family very hard and even though it was 5 years ago, I still find myself crying over the smallest things that remind me of him. I don't have a recent photo of him. In fact I didn't take this photo, but I feel that it's the best one that covers the topic of remembrance. This photo was taken by his sister, Gina, who is now an only child. Roger was her big brother.

I always felt close to my cousin even though I didn't see him often. When we were younger we would often share our birthday parties. I was born 9/29 and his birthday was 10/1. This year was difficult because I turned 25. I'm no officially older than my cousin was when he died (he was 24). It's tough to know that he will never be any older and he will never see his kids grow up. His daughter was about 6 weeks old when he passed away (her birthday is also 9/29). He never even got to hold her and that's something else that tears at my heart. To know that he never got to feel the weight of her in his arms and to see the beauty of her newborn face.

I hope that some day I will be able to see his grave. I unfortunately did not make it to his funeral in 2005. He is buried in Biloxi, MS. I know that some day, I will make that special trip down there and I will sit by his grave and feel closer to him as I get my closure.

I would like to leave you with a Bible verse that is very special to my brother. He has it tattooed on his arm as part of a memorial to my cousin:

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13

#41 - What's on your iPod?

Music... that's today's theme. I figured I would share my iPod. the first photo is a picture of my wonderful iPod nano. It the 3rd generation. One of the first iPods to play play movies (I have Princess Bride and Sweet Home Alabama on it). It also plays music and audio books. It even has a couple of games.

If you can't tell the color, it's a metallic mint green. I have a protective case on it. I've had this iPod for about 3 years now and it's my companion when I'm mowing our lawn.

As for music, I decided to share one of my albums. If you can see in the next photo, it's a

music list. It's from the album Faceless from the band Godsmack. They are my favorite band of all time (even over Queen and Lynyrd Skynyrd!).

I can listen to this album over and over again and never get sick of it. In fact, when my car was broken into in 2006, they stole my CD player and this album was in it. I was so heart broken, I went out and bought this album again. I put it on my iTunes as soon as I could so I wouldn't lose it again. I hope to get more of their albums soon.

#40 - A real piece of work

We don't have many pieces of art in our house (we've been here 16 months and I still haven't hung our diplomas...).

I decided to share 2 sculpture/figurines that we have. This first one is a Willow Tree figurine. The name of this one is Together. It was given to us as a wedding gift. I will always remember our wedding when I look at this figurine. I hope to get more as our lives go along and we hit major milestones.

The second one is a sculpture that we got while we were on our honeymoon (a Caribbean cruise). I had found this in Cozumel, Mexico and was drawn to it. I find it so beautiful and sensual as well as romantic and intimate.

Both of these pieces are made of wood yet they are so different. I will remember our trip to the Caribbean when I look at this statue and think of the fun times we had.

We keep the Willow Tree figurine in the dining room with the light green walls. The Mexican one is in our downstairs living room which is full of warm colors (browns/oranges/reds). They each fit their rooms quite well.

#39 - TWLOHA

TWLOHA - To Write Love On Her Arms

This week is suicide prevention week. TWLOHA is an organization that is spreading a message of hope and awareness to help with suicide prevention.

Today to show your support of suicide prevention and to help spread the word, they asked that you write "Love" on your arm.

Even though I don't see a lot of people during the day, I still wanted to show my support for the cause.

#38 - Glass from the Past

Glass is the theme. I chose to take a photo of my great-grandma's goblet, that has her crest. Her name was Mary Hinnet (but we always called her Granny). She passed away about 8-10 years ago.

My grandma was going to sell them in a garage sale when I found them. I wouldn't let her get rid of them, so they found a home with me. They reside on the top shelf of my cupboard.

#37 - Hobby box

One of my favorite hobbies are crafts (another one is reading). I love crocheting. I finished a blanket for my niece about 6 week ago. You can see it here. This is a photo of my yarn box. I have been working on color bags for my nephew. I need to get them done so he can learn his colors. I get my patterns from Crafty Anna and her Etsy shop. They are very easy to understand and work through. I suggest you check them out if you like to crochet. Even if you don't know how, she uses basic stitches such as single crochet and double crochet.

I also like to do needle point. I've been working on some cross stitch for my niece. Here is a photo of a couple bibs that I made for her. They were printed on with blue ink. I have a counter cross stitch project that I need to work on as well.

Something I hope to start soon is a quilt. I'm going to attempt to make a t-shirt quilt. I have lots of t-shirts that I don't wear anymore. I would like to make it a king-size quilt. We only have one king-size blanket and it's a huge down comforter... way too much for summer. I want a lighter blanket for our bed. I hope I can catch on. I would love to start quilting quite a bit.

#36 - Electronic Wall

Electronics are today's theme. Here are a few of my favorites (besides my phone and computer).

• 42" HDTV (and yes, that's Miss J on the TV)
• Wii
• Wii Fit Plus board
• BluRay Player
• DVR
• iPod Stereo (it's also hooked up to the TV)
• Super NES

This is our entertainment center. It's a great place to watch football games and movies. I also highly suggest getting a DVR. I don't know what we did before we got the DVR. There are so many options.

#35 - Little Gray Camry

Today's theme was your car. Here is a photo of our baby. It's a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid. We bought this car in March 2010. We had to buy a new car when the power steering finally blew in our 2000 Oldsmobile Alero. That car was shot. When you are a one car family, you need to have a reliable vehicle and the Alero was no longer reliable. We love this new car and we got an awesome deal on it.

#34 - My little corner of the world

I am a housewife so the whole house is technically my workspace. So, I took a picture of my messy desk. This is where I sew and file things. I also keep my scrapbooking things here.

My brother made this desk for me back in 2005. It was a birthday present from him. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's still a nice desk.

My dad and I put a laminate top on it to help with the roughness. I hope to make a nice fabric skirt to cover the wood and possibly make storage underneath.

I also took a photo of Ed's desk because that's where he likes to be when he comes home. As a software developer, he spends a lot of time at his computer both at work and at home.

His desk is neat and clean... the way he likes it. I personally don't mind a little mess. I try to keep mine clean, but it's hard. When I clean up in other rooms, it end up in the office, on my desk. Then I will sort it later.

Maybe someday I will get my act together and be able to use the desk as a desk.

I also just took a photo of the room from the door. It's has his and her sides. His is the dark side, mine is the lighter side. It's also the messy versus the clean. This room won't always looklike this though. Eventually, when the time comes (when we have a baby), it will become a nursery. We don't have to worry about that for a while.

#33 - "I heard a voice say Zuul!"

Today's theme was "what's in your refrigerator". Here's a photo of ours. There really isn't a lot in it. The box in the lower left is full of cheese sticks (string cheese and colby). Ed gets 1 every day in his lunch. He feels gypped if he doesn't get his cheese. He also gets 1 juice box which are in the box on the lower left.

I think I need to clean this up...

(In case you didn't get it, the title is a reference to the original Ghosbusters)

#32 - Ooo, a piece of candy...

These are just a couple types of candy I like. Personally I don't care for chocolate, so most of the candy I like are fruity.

The day I bought these, I was craving some Twizzlers so I had to buy them. The Mike & Ike's were a new kind... I apparently like red candy.

#31 - Work of Art

I just wanted to share a piece of art work that I had made in high school. It's done with black color pencil. I've always loved it.

It's from a photograph in a magazine (like a National Geographic). I had blown up the picture and made an outline. I think it's a beautiful picture. I wish I had this kind of talent naturally.

#30 - Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

I thought I would share my diamonds. I don't have many, just these two pieces. The rings are my engagement and wedding rings. I picked them out. The necklace was my Christmas gift this past year from Ed. He put them in my stocking along with a letter from Santa. It explained why I deserved coal. Then, there was a post-it from Santa saying he accidentally sat on the coal in the sleigh and created the diamonds.

I love them!

#29 - Bored??

Try these board games! These are 2 of my favorites and we play them often. Ticket to Ride (or the Train Game, as we call it) is pretty easy to understand and play. Settlers of Catan is more involved but tons of fun when you get the hang of it. It will keep you thinking and laughing!..."anyone got any sheep??"

#28 - Out Front

Since I took a picture off my deck I figured I should post one from our front window. Our bedroom is right over our garage, so that's why most of the photo is of our crazy driveway. You would be surprised how many people have problems backing out... our poor grass gets rolled over quite a bit!