Thank you to ALL MY {FRIENDS}

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Would your blog grow without friends and support?


Would you enjoy blogging if you had no friends or friendships?


Would you feel inspired if your blog had no friends and no support?


Did you answer no? to any of those? Sooooo what would your blog  {{mean}} to you if your blog had no friends, friendships, and no support?

These are the questions I thought about sitting here for a long time at my desk just starring at my monitor. Way before my fingers starting drumming the keys I thought of you, {all of you!} Each one of you, who  reads my blog, follows my blog, comments on my blog, makes me laugh, email's me, asks me questions, compliments me, inspires me, makes me feel super loved, HAS made me {{enjoy}} BLOGGING!  Each and every one of you have inspired me to continue to create, craft, share, and love doing it along the way. I call you my {FRIENDS!}

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When I started my blog almost 2 years ago, I never thought for a second I would have the kind of love and joy I have now for so so many of you. What a blessing and a gift it is to have the ability to share, create, and talk about our loves, desires, creations, and life with thousands of one another. Women, just like me- mothers, hard workers, homemakers, creators, writers, wife's,  DIYer's, and mega multi-taskers able to reach out to so many. I can honestly say I feel like I know so many of you, just by our chats, comments, emails. By reading your blogs and hearing your wit and seeing all that you are capable of doing, and seeing all your creative talent. IT'S plain {{AWESOME}}- and it's inspiring.

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There are days that I am not in the best of spirits or moods, not to mention I don't have an ounce of creativity in me. Then I hop on my blog or read my emails or check COM'S Facebook and you are there. You all lift me up, inspire me to plug along, and {you all} put a smile on my face.

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So as we come to the end of this year, I want you all to know that COM wouldn't be anything or mean NEARLY as much to me....... if it weren't for each and every one of you. You brighten my day and keep me truckin on. You my friends...... are why I { BLOG! } SO- {{THANK YOU}} from the bottom of my heart, and from one woman, wife, mother, CrAfTeR, DIY'er, and BLOGGER.  
I love you all!

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AND HERE IS TO MANY MORE FRIENDSHIPS, CREATIVITY, SUPPORT, AND MORE BLOGS!

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

XO and all my love, 

jen

TICK TOCK oreo NEW YEAR'S CLOCK pop's

I COULD CRY- to understand the un-perfected clock pop's you would have to read this post first.........

I had this vision of smooth coated white oreo pops with perfectly drawn clocks on top. The vision in my head is still so darling and perfect. THESE, WELL... they are not. I still have a hard time posting them, In fact I can say this is my first CRAFT FAIL! I am so bummed. However, I wanted to share this with you all because maybe you all are better at Oreo Pops then I. This was my very first attempt at making oreo pops, and sadly it will probably be my  last. That said, I do realize that practice makes perfect, but wasting money and loosing more nerves, I could probably go without practice on this one. I apologize for the poop post I am giving you, and  I don't want to discourage any of you, but I hated this project from start to finish. For starters dipping oreo's -ie-yi-yi... first trying to get the stick in and hope that nothing breaks, or that the weight of the candy melts don't pull the oreo's off, and finally hoping that the oreo pop's don't break before you lay them down to cool..... ALL-"DIFFICULT".

As I went through each pop I found what worked better each time I went through the cycle. Dip the stick in the melted candies, tap the excess off by hitting the stick on the rim of the bowl, gently wiggle the stick into the "fattest" side of the oreo's frosting. Then tip your bowl and lay the oreo down so that the bowl is holding the one side, spoon the melted candies over the oreo and then gently pick it up holding a large cereal spoon under the oreo. Carry it to the pan with parchment paper on it, and lay it to cool. Lastly, gently tap the pan up and down wiggling out the wrinkles to the oreo pops. Chill in fridge for 15- 20  mins. draw clocks on the pops, GOOD GOOD GOOD LUCK.

P.S. these would look so much better with the correct fondant/cake pen. I bought Wilton's Cake markers and well... they suck!!! I didn't want to drive all the way to Michael's for one stinken fondant pen, and my Walmart only had the markers. Once again, these pops can come out so much better. Sighhhhh.

FOR NOW THESE ARE WHAT MINE LOOK LIKE, and if you don't pin them... Well, I don't blame you.

I don't like these markers, and they don't show up. Boooo-hisss I waisted $5.00 bucks plus tax.

 

....and that's a wrap.

39 Dollar Glasses Review & GIVEAWAY!

I was thrilled when 39DollarGlasses contacted me several weeks ago and asked if I would like to do a Review and a Giveaway? UM, Yes! For One I have had my eyes (no pun) on some Aviator Sun Glasses for sometime. Two I love to slide on some super fly sunglasses before I jump in the car and hit the town for some errands or "craft" shopping. Three sunglasses are great to help protect those purdy eyes. 39DollarGlasses.com is a wonderful site with lots of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses to choose and order from.

Here I am wearing my new 39 dollar glasses- Aviators. I love them LOVE! They came nicely packaged in a soft grey pull string cloth cover, as well as in a nice hard cover glasses case. They are well made and sturdy. Not to mention Fabulous. Their prices are great, and the quality is too. Oh' and how convenient is is to order prescription glasses from the comfort of your home and computer. Love that!

  I chose the Aviator Silver

 

one of you will GET TO {{WIN}} A PAIR OF Prescription Eye Glasses or Sunglasses 

"YOUR CHOICE"- a $75.00 dollar value! 

CAN I GET A WOOT!

{{{TO ENTER}}}

1- LIKE 39DollarGlasses on FB!

but please don't say that you are visiting from COM. Its part of their policy, please just say hello.

2- LIKE 39 Dollar Glasses on Twitter

3- LIKE COM ON FB 

4- say something extra in the comments.

(just be nice!) 

5- FB, OR TWEET this giveaway.

goooooood luck!

I will pick a winner and announce the winner via my COM-FB page in a week.  

DIY- New Years Inspired {Clock Pillow}

In the spirit if {New Years} approaching I made a {clock} pillow. 

New Years was definitely my inspiration for this {clock} pillow. I used my Cricut to cut out some heat transfer vinyl, and I used the "Going Places" cartridge and selected the clock decal. I chose the fit to page "12x12" option and ironed on the clock vinyl onto my Canvas Corp. Pillow form. I stuffed it with batting and added the words with more heat transfer vinyl to spell..

"Time to Enjoy!"
also- the time on the clock is the time selection Cricut designed for the "Going Places" cartridge and could not be changed.  So no Midnight option. ;)

 CANVAS CORP. PILLOW FORM

Now here's to hoping I stay awake on New Years and 

"ENJOY MY TIME" 

with my family, 

and not crash on this said pillow! winks.

COM'S {Top 10} of 2011

Welcome friends here are my {{TOP 10 posts of 2011}}. I based this selection off of the many pins they each got on Pinterest, as well as them being some of my personal favorites. I can't wait for a new year full of new creativity, new projects, new journeys, new  inspiration, friends, and exciting fun. fun. fun. 

DIY- craft room nook

  DIY- wire ribbon ruffled lamp

 "You make me Snicker" Valentine's card

 Easter Bunny- brown paper goodie bags

DIY- painted and stenciled chevron earrings

Patriotic- paper pennant and pinwheel wreath

DIY monogrammed and stenciled chevron canvas

DIY- stenciled and painted EEK blocks

Crock pot creamy chicken noodle soup

 

DIY- embellished stockings

..... and that's a wrap!

Thanks for stopping by COM, its always a pleasure to have my friends visit. 

xo, 

jen
linking up to Tatertots and jello 

{Merry Christmas to all of you}

I will be away from my blog for the next four days, enjoying yet another wonderful Christmas, and making those memories with  my sweet family. 

I hope you guys all know how much I love you!!! You all make me so happy and you all are a gift's to me. 

From my family to yours...

CLICK ON PICTURE AND YOU CAN VIEW IT LARGER.
card designed by me and pictures taken by my friend and photographer LuckyNumber9Photography.com

xo jen

Super COOL & I think you all will love {{Storenvy}}

Hi Craft-O-Maniacs! Adam from the social store community, Storenvy.com.

Storenvy.com is a completely free, customizable and easy to use and setup e-commerce platform and marketplace. We truly believe that starting and running an online store should be a fun, quick and easy process and felt that there hasn't been a service that could do all of those things.

So what makes Storenvy great?

1) Customizable With Storenvy you can setup your own completely customizable storefront with just a few clicks of the mouse by uploading a header, changing your background image or customizing your store colors. For anyone adventurous enough we even allow you to edit the CSS/HTML of the site to completely customize the way it looks.

2) Built in Marketplace We wanted to make it easy for store owners and shoppers to find each other. The Storenvy Marketplace does just this by showing off products from all of our Storenvy stores in one easy place to shop and discover. Storenvy storeowners receive on average 15% of their sales through the marketplace.

3) Facebook Store With just a few clicks you can be selling your items right on your Facebook fan page directly to your fans! Selling your items through your Facebook store really doesn't get any easier than this.

4) Storenvy is Social! Storenvy also allows users to follow your store, like your products and leave you comments. Which is fantastic for building up a following and keeping your customers informed on new products.

5) Free! Believe it or not Storenvy is completely free to list, sell and maintain. There are no limits to the amount of products you can sell or what type of products you can sell on the site. We do have a few freemium features such as a very robust discount system called "Super Discounts", but nothing is required.

Right now on Storenvy we have over 9,000 stores and over 130,000 products and growing everyday! We would love to have any and all Craft-O-Maniacs to join our community! If anyone has any questions feel free to get in touch with us on Twitter @storenvy or email me directly at adam(at)storenvy(dot)com!

so....... check check check it out. XO jen

DIY-Neighbor Gift- A pail of snow balls aka oreo cake balls

I decided to whip up some Oreo Cake balls last night for some of my friends aka neighbors. I am calling this Neighbor gift ..

"A pail of snow balls."

HOW TO:

I crushed up two bags of oreos in a zip lock bag. I  banged the oreos with a rolling pin. (which really helps get out all that holiday stress. HA!) You can use a food processor to do this as well. (I still need to get one.) Then I added in two cream cheese frosting containers and mixed it real well. I let the bowl of OCB chill in the fridge for 15 min. Then I took them out and rolled a bunch of balls, and again let them chill for 15 mins. in the fridge. I melted some white/vanilla candy melts and got dipping. I added some blue sprinkles and silver mini balls to some of the SNOW BALLS aka Oreo cake balls. I placed blue tissue paper down in the bottom of the pails and then added "8" fairly large SNOW BALLS. Last I cut the corners of more tissue paper giving me three cut triangle corners a piece to stick in the tops of each pail. The cute white snowflake pails I got at Target in the $ dollar section. 

THANKS A BUNCH FOR STOPPING BY COM.
xo jen

{{Elf on the Shelf - LINK PARTY}}

IF YOU HAVE AN ELF ON THE SHELF... well then LETS PARTY AND ALL SHARE WHAT ARE FUN, SILLY, SNEAKY, CUTE ELVES HAVE BEEN UP TOO.

Our Elf- Mr. Simmie-Clay has been busy at play, HA- I rhymed. 
My older kids have surely enjoyed waking up each morning and finding him in a new spot and up to new mischief. Simmie is very welcomed in our home, and we will enjoy this tradition for years to come.

Here is just some of the fun he has been up to....

NOW I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOUR ELVES HAVE BEEN UP TO!

{{Canvas Corp. GIVEAWAY}}

EEK- A CANVAS CORP. GIVEAWAY.... YOU all know my love for Canvas Corp. I am always showing crafts here on the blog, using their amazing products. Everything they have is great, and of GREAT QUALITY!!! I have never seen cuter paper either!!!

Here is a picture of what ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL WIN! its a package worth over $55 dollars.

TO ENTER

1- Like Canvas Corp. on FB here. Let me know.
2- Visit Canvas Corp. blog and let them know you are stopping by from COM. Come back and let me know you visited.
3- Like COM on FB here.
4- Follow COM let me know.
5- Tweet or FB this Giveaway, let me know.
6- SAY "MERRY-JOLLY-HO-HO-CHRISTMAS JOY!"

THAT IS "6" OPPORTUNITIES TO WIN. 

BEST OF LUCK. I will pick a winner on Sat. via my COM-FB page. thanks jen

Craft-O-Maniac MONDAY link PARTY

 ITS HERE COM MONDAY, and I can't wait to see all of your talent... LET'S GET STARTED!

{{{RULES}}}   

*Please be courteous to your host and link back to CraftOManiac.

*Please link up only "3" cRaFts. DIY PROJECTS. or Recipes.

*PLEASE DO NOT link to giveaways, or craft posts attached to your own link party.   

*Please visit some other links and show some comment love!

THANKS A BUNCH

DIY- Simple Gift Ideas

Today I am sharing "3" fun gift ideas. 

Here is a simple and "Sweet" gift idea for your kids class or for a church class. 

Fill small ziplock baggies (got the baggies at Michael's) then cut card stock paper to size, fold the paper over the top  of the baggies and staple. DONE! the paper is Canvas Corp paper.

... and here is a teacher gift idea. I didn't want to worry about making teacher gifts for my two older kids teachers, (because I have enough on my plate) so when I saw these darling blown glass No.2 pencil ornaments at Target, I snatched the last two. I added some black and white polka dot ribbon for hanging and I just need to stick them in a gift bag with tissue paper. The message in the card will read- You may write with a No. 2 pencil but in my book you are No. 1.

Last.... are you feeding the Missionary's before Christmas? or do you have a son, brother, friend, etc. on a mission? this is a cute gift idea or little treat to send them. M&M- stands for Mormon Missionary. Tonight we are feeding our missionary's for dinner, and I am giving them these simple "sweet" boxes of M&M's. Can't wait. 

That's all, see you all back here for COM-MONDAY! 

XO jen