Recycled Light Bulb Ornaments

Again, another type of ornament I had seen examples of around on Pinterest but gave them my own little flare.

These little guys were so fun to make! I'm tickled to death to finally have something to use old light bulbs to make!! I love up-cycling things from around the house!!

To use as a hanger for both of the bulbs, I used brown twine and tied it around the top of the ornament then tied the two ends together in cute bows.

For the Snowman Light Bulb, I painted the bulb white, sprinkled white glitter all over it, waited for that to dry. Then I did a few coats of the homemade modge podge I made the other day. I found super cute black rhinestone stickers at the craft store for the eyes, mouth & buttons. For the nose, I used orange puffy paint.

For the Penguin Light Bulb, I did the first coat of paint in white, then used a pencil to outline the area I wanted to keep white then painted the rest of it black. After both coats dried, then I added a coat of clear glitter paint all over the bulb. After that dried then I used blue puffy paint for the eyes and orange again for the nose.

10 Free Holiday Cards from Ink Garden!

For the past two years I've gotten photo Christmas cards for almost nothing! I LOVE saving money especially on things like this! In the past, I always used regular Christmas cards I would buy at the store simply because I didn't want to pay the extra money on cute photo Christmas cards (as much as I wanted to, LOL!). Now thanks to all the deals I've found on photo cards, it's actually been cheaper for me to buy them than the old school Christmas cards!!

When I saw this one this morning, I couldn't help but share! Ink Garden is offering 10 free prints plus 40% off your order if you're a first time customer (you will need to pay for shipping)!!

Free Carseat Canopy!!

Freebies rock! The Carseat Canopy retails for $49.95!! You just have to pay for $12.95 for UPS 2 – 8 business days shipping! What an awesome gift to give someone for Christmas or a baby shower!!! 

Use promo code “MYSAVINGS” and snag this awesome deal today!! 

You can get more details or order yours here. 

Daily Chili's Coupons from now until Christmas, yes please!

One of my weaknesses is going to Chili's and chowing down on their chips & salsa!! I just found this deal that I couldn't resist sharing with you guys!!

From now until Christmas, you can sign up to receive daily coupons from Chili's by going here!! Enjoy, I know I am!! 

DIY Modge Podge

When I was at Michael's last week, I wanted to pick up some Modge Podge to use on a few of the projects I've been wanting to make lately. When I saw the price, I refused to buy it. Mostly because it's so close to Christmas and I'll be needing to use all the extra money I can to buy gifts for everyone.

I started searching on Pinterest (yet again, LOL!) and came across several different recipes for DIY Modge Podge. This one from Do It Yourself Divas and it works GREAT!! The recipe calls for equal parts school glue and water! And since I got LOADS of school glue thanks to an awesome sale and coupons for free, I just had to try it out!!

LOVE Wall Hanging

Growing up, one of my favorite things to search through was an old container of buttons that my mom and I collected through the years. One trip home to Ohio, while at my mom's I found the container of buttons and started rummaging through it and gathered a large Ziploc bag full to bring back to Connecticut with me.

Once I got home, I put the bag of buttons with the rest of my craft supplies and forgot about it for a few weeks. One afternoon on Pinterest, I saw this super cute wall hanging and then knew the PERFECT buttons to use to make this!

I wrapped 4 approximately 5x7 pieces of wood with fabric from my favorite fabric store I picked up during my trip to Ohio. I the fabric to the wood with a hot glue gun then used a stronger craft glue to glue all the food together. The I nailed a sawtooth hanger on the back.

I glued the buttons onto the fabric with the hot glue gun (watch out with the super small buttons, LOL!)

This is my version, it hangs above our bed, a daily reminder to me the love I have for my entire family :)

Some days...

There are some days that as a parent of a child with Down syndrome, we all have "Holland moments," where we may get upset or down regarding something that's going on with our child. Whenever this happens to be, I sit down and read my favorite poems, "Welcome to Holland" and "Hang it on the Cross."

I did just that very thing yesterday. Joey was diagnosed with colitis a few years ago. The past few months, it has been at an all time worst. I can't even count the numbers of diapers I've changed in the past 2 months... Last week when I took him to see his GI doctor regarding this problem, we decided it was best to check him out to make sure there's not something else going on with his GI system. Unfortunately to do this, he's going to need an upper GI with a small bowel follow through, a endoscopy and a colonoscopy.

I HATE the thought of putting him through each of those things BUT I know they're necessary to make sure there's not something else wrong. One of the things mentioned at the GI appointment was the thought that perhaps his colitis has possibly turned into Crohn's Disease. This scares the daylights out of me knowing he may have a life time of this disease but I know there's nothing I can do about it.... that's when I turn to "Hang It On The Cross."

These two poems remind me that going to Holland really isn't that bad, sometimes it may rain but it's typically a beautiful place. And that whenever an added obstacle comes our way, rather than dwelling about it, I remind myself just to hang it on my cross and let God take control and also to stop and admire the tulips as I'm journeying through Holland.

And this is Joey, isn't he beautiful?