Carol of the Bells

Hallelujah

HOORAY!

HOORAY! 

It's the last day of school until January 9th! 

And it's pajama day!

{which means I have this crazy fear I'll have a wreck on the way to school

 and that I feel the need to explain myself to everyone I see!}

And I have car duty!

{So I'll get lots of crazy looks and laughs!}

Enjoy your day sweet friends!

HO HO HO

With Christmas only 11 days away and two and half more days of school 

{don't feel badly for us, we don't go back until Jan. 9th!} 

it seems there are a 1,429,845 things to do! 

But tonight, instead of wrapping or shopping or baking or cleaning
I've been sitting on my hiney making a few Christmas printables. 

My geeky math teacher side loves this one! 

          

ho3

Ruffle Tree Skirt WINNER!

And the winner is........................

Comment #19 was left by my sweet high school friend Cara 

who {whom?} I haven't seen in at least 22 years! 

Cara is the absolutely beautiful wife of Freddie and 

the mother of four amazing and talented kids! 

{Cara- send me your address on FB and I'll get it in the mail tomorrow!}

I so loved reading all of your comments about what you love about Christmas 

and I agree with every single one! 

Thanks so much for entering and have a fabulous weekend!

Ruffled Tree Skirt Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!

For the past month or two I had seen lots of ruffled Christmas skirts on Pinterest that I loved. 

{I big puffy heart ruffles of all kinds!}

So when my sweet cousin Amy and I planned a craft day for the Sat. after Thanksgiving,

 it was the first thing on our list of crafts to make.  

After spending quite some time figuring the best way to make ruffles on a sewing machine 

{tightest tension, longest stitch length} 

and fighting with Amy's sewing machine bobbin- 

we had finished our two ruffled skirts and they were super cute!  

And truthfully, super easy!

For those interested in making your own, here's how: 

Supplies:

• Canvas drop cloth or piece of canvas fabric {large enough to have a 4 ft x 4 ft square}
• 3 yards of fabric {I used muslin but cotton or linen would also work}
• sewing machine and thread
• glue gun and glue sticks {lots of glue sticks}
• scissors

1. Lay out your piece of canvas. We used a tree skirt of Amy's as a pattern, traced it, and cut it out.  If you don't have one to use as a pattern start by making sure your fabric is a square, fold it into quarters and then into a triangle. Then cut a piece off the end in a semi-circle. 

2.  Take and cut off the tip in a semi-circle for the center of the tree skirt. Choose one of the sides to cut up so that you have an opening in the skirt. 

3. Take your fabric and cut it into 3 inch strips.  I used a rotary cutter and mat which made  it go much faster.  If you don't have one- I totally suggest you add it to your Christmas list! 

4. Get your sewing machine out. I filled three bobbins so that when I needed them I could easily and quickly change them.  Set the tension to the highest and the stitch length on your machine to the longest.  Stitch about 1/2 inch from one side. As you sew....voila! You have ruffles.  Continue stitching until you have a pile o' ruffles!!!

5. Starting at the outside edge of the canvas circle, hot glue the ruffles onto the canvas. Once you finish one layer, start a new one that slightly overlaps the previous one- covering the stitching. 

At the end of each row, I went over the edge of the slit a bit,

 so that it was more finished on the edges of the opening. 

My sweet friend Dory loved the ruffled skirt

 {she loves ruffles as much as I do}

 so I decided to make one for her.  

Since I was going to purchase the supplies to make one, 

I decided to buy enough and made a second one to give away! 

So if you'd like a chance to win your very own ruffled tree skirt, 

just leave a comment telling me your favorite thing about Christmas! 


*Only one entry per person please and if you comment anonymously, please make sure to leave your name and email for me to contact you if you win!

The giveaway ends at 5pm on Friday. 

I'll pick a winner that evening 

and get it in the mail to the winner on Saturday morning! 

Randomness on a Thursday Night

1. All of these phrases were spoken in my classroom this week by ME:

• We do not talk about BOOGERS in GT!
• I am not a mama duck!
• QUACK!
• If you touch another pencil I am going to scream!

2. I just finished making two more ruffled tree skirt like this one that I made on Saturday.  Even though sewing isn't my thing, I really enjoyed making these!  One is for my sweet friend Dory and one is for one of YOU!  Would you like one? Come back on Monday for a GIVEAWAY! 

3. Saw this quote on Pinterest and thought it was SO wise and SO true!  

"The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our 

behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." 

~Steven Furtick~

4.  Why is it that some mornings I wake up and my hair looks pretty much like it did when I went to bed and others it looks like I put my finger in a light socket? What the heck is up with that? {I know that is SUPER random...but I seriously wondered that this am when I looked in the mirror!}

5. My sweet Daddy opened a checking account for Madison and her checks arrived in the mail today. How in the world am I old enough to have a child with checks???????

6. I'm reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and it's truly one of the best and most challenging books I've ever read.  I read this section last night and can not stop thinking about it. It hit me right between the eyes!

‎"When I am consumed by my problems – stressed out by my life, my family, my job – I actually convey the belief that I think the circumstances are more important than God’s command to always rejoice. In other words, that I have a “right” to disobey God because of the magnitude of my responsibilities. Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of what is happening in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control. Basically, these two behaviors communicate that it’s ok to sin and not trust God because the stuff in my life is somehow exceptional. Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we’ve been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won’t be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God’s strength, our problems are small, indeed. Why are we so quick to forget God? Who do we think we are?"

 ~Crazy Love, Francis Chan

Night y'all- sweet dreams!

Fair isn't....

For those of you teacher friends, I posted this on 

Technology Rocks. Seriously. last night.  

Such a great reminder that although our kids do receive different modifications and services, it's what they truly need to be successful! 

Click on the image above to take you to the post where you can print out a copy for your classroom!