Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Want to make a business out of your creativity?

Is crafting a big part of your life? Wouldn't you love to earn money while doing something you enjoy? How about the convenience of setting your own hours? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then Stampin' Up! is the perfect opportunity for you.

I can't help but share this AMAZING opportunity with you! Stampin' Up! is offering the starter kit starting today (Nov. 15) through Nov. 30 for 50% off its regular $175 price. That's only $87.50 for a $310 product value!! This has never been done before and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't at least pass this information along!

A snippet from the Stampin' Up! customer home page about becoming a demonstrator:

Just as Stampin' Up! demonstrators provide their customers with one-stop shopping and individualized service, Stampin' Up! provides its demonstrators with the opportunity to pursue their individual goals whether those goals are to enjoy a hobby, build a thriving business, or contribute to family income while spending more time at home.

Whether you'd like to earn money to pay for your stamping supplies, create a full or part-time career, or simply get a discount on your stamping supplies, Stampin' Up! will help you do it. And if that isn't enough, we've listed 10 reasons for you to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

1. Get ideas for handmade cards, scrapbook pages, and home decor projects.
2. Learn new, artistic stamping techniques on a monthly basis.
3. Gain first access to popular product lines and exclusive, award-winning designs.
4. Get a 20 percent discount on Stampin' Up! products.
5. Be your own boss, and establish a flexible business that meets your goals.
6. Spend more time with family when you work from home with a schedule that fits you and your family.
7. Be eligible to attend Stampin' Up!'s fabulous conferences and events.
8. Earn free exotic trips and other recognition (like free rubber stamps, cash awards, and other valuable prizes).
9. Meet new friends and enrich lives while sharing what you love.
10. Receive support and training from Stampin' Up!

Two Options:

For all the details, please visit my Stuck on Stampin' blog. If you have been thinking about finding a way to do something you love and earn a little money in the process, then consider joining Stampin' Up! I joined in March 2009 as a "hobby demonstrator" and a year and a half later am excited about it becoming more of a business opportunity to share my creativity and passion for it!

**This might not be something you're interested in starting up at the moment, but if you sign up now, you won't have to do make your first quarterly requirement until March 2011, so you have plenty of time to figure out how you would like to make Stampin' Up! work for you!

**Also, please feel free to pass this special promotion along to your friends! I'm happy to support anyone any way that I can...even if I don't live in "your neck of the woods". Anyone can sign up with me to become a demonstrator.

Never hesitate to leave a comment to ask questions or send me an e-mail to heidilynneboos{at}hotmail.com.

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I'll leave you with a fun little Thanksgiving treat I made for my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. It's a favor box (found at Target on clearance a few years ago...and finally using them for something!) I created the hole in the top using the oval punch and then made a scallop oval ring. Such a fun little goody to give at each person's seat at Thanksgiving.

pretzel-tailed turkey treats!

Turkey treats made by Mikayla & Austin
~ Thanksgiving 2009 ~

{Pretzel-Tailed Turkey Treats}
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Blessings abound in the Boos household!!

Austin Nicholas
(2 years, 2 months)

Mikayla Lynne
(3 years, 7 months)

Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving features

I'm super excited to share that I was featured today at Tip Junkie for some of last year's Thanksgiving ideas!! Good thing I had my act together last year! It feels like this year's Thanksgiving season has gone by too quickly.

One of the ideas featured was the little turkey treats we made last year.
I'm looking for a fun turkey treat to make this year ON Thanksgiving. Seen any good ideas lately? Do share!

The other idea featured was the silverware settings I created last year for the Thanksgiving table. (Sorry, a repeat from yesterday!) No need to be making anything this year, since I'm not hosting!
There are lots of other fun and inspiring ways to make your Thanksgiving fabulous, so head on over to Tip Junkie to get inspired!

Also, take a minute to stop on by Southern Domestic Goddess to link up your Thanksgiving ideas and pass along the inspiration (and to get inspired, of course!) In fact, this next little project I'm sharing comes straight from someone who had linked up there. Thanks to The Activity Mom for sharing this simple little Thanksgiving card. I love the poem she shared to go with the turkey handprints! I'm a sucker for a good rhyming poem.

{click on picture to view larger}

Happy {early} Thanksgiving Mom & Dad (aka Grammy & Papa)!!
This will be coming in the mail soon...sorry it will be late! I always just seem to be one step behind these days!

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How is your crafty Christmas decor coming along? Don't forget to be working on this month's craft challenge! Be ready to share your project sometime during Dec. 3-10...I can't wait to see what you all are working on! I guess that means I should get started, too! For more information on this month's challenge check it out HERE or visit all past monthly craft challenges.

Fall decor and more!

Wow! November has just flown by. It seems that the last 2 weeks of being sick here at our house (either me, Ryan, or the kids) has stopped us from participating in some Thanksgiving traditions that we started last year. I've seen some super amazing ideas out there this year, but I never got around to any of them! How sad! And now with Christmas fast approaching, I'm feeling rushed to move onto the next holiday. However, I do have a few {simple} plans for some special Thanksgiving activities this week, so I'll share those hopefully later on. Although it may be after the holiday.

I figured it's still considered the Fall season...for at least another week, so what better time than TODAY to share with you my Fall decor for 2009. (Although I do know many who have already started decorating for Christmas, but I won't mention any names! *wink*)

~ Fall Decor 2009 ~
{click to view larger}

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Last year, we had the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving at our house! This year we get to give that pleasure to someone else and are traveling to Ryan's parents for Thanskgiving Day. I had a lot of fun with the decorating portion of last year's hosting experience. The food part? Let's just say I'm glad it was a joint effort between 3 families. Our turkey turned out great, but the mashed potatoes? Don't even ask...

Because I never got to share the Thanksgiving table from last year, I thought it would be appropriate to share for any of you getting ready to host your own Thanksgiving this year! I especially like to keep things simple and last year's table wasn't any different.

These were the place settings at each guest's seat.
I did happen to blog about these if you'd like to take a look!

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On Sunday, I held a 4 for $10 Christmas gift giving event.
It was a small group of stampers, but we had lots of fun!
Visit Stuck on Stampin' for more information on
each of the projects we made below.

ok, everyone on the couch!

If you know me, you know I like to take pictures...either people roll their eyes when I say "let's get a picture" or they are so thankful that I'm such a photo freak. Take it or leave it, but I'm still going to try to capture that moment.

I wish I had more pictures that documented our time with family over the Thanksgiving weekend, but my main objective was to get some cute pictures of the cousins all together on the couch, so I could have these memories tucked away for when I needed them most. I have pictures of me and my cousins way back when all lined up on our grandma and grandpa's couch in the basement. Those pictures will always be cherished, and so, to help carry on the tradition for my kids and their cousins, we rounded up the kiddos and took a few snapshots.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with my husband's side of the family (his parents and brother and his family).

~ the Boos side of the family ~
Parker (1 1/2), Riley (3 1/2), Mikayla (2 1/2), Austin (1)

A couple of days later we had my side of the family over for lasagna (sans "the big wigs"...a.k.a our parents). My brother and his family, and my sister and her family who drove down from Tacoma, WA.

~ the Johnson side of the family ~
Jacob (8), Noah (2 1/2), Mikayla (2 1/2), Hunter (1 1/2), Austin (1), & Hailey (5 months)

If you ever hear me say, "OK, everyone on the couch!", try hard not to roll your eyes, but just embrace it and play along with my insanity.

Here are just a few of the other victims from the past...

last minute turkey treats

Thanksgiving is literally just around the corner. In almost exactly 24 hours we'll be having my husband's side of the family over and hosting our first Thanksgiving at our house! I'm very excited because I love to host (it gives me an excuse to do some fun, creative things) and I think it will be fun to watch the cousins play together, and enjoy some time with family. On Saturday, we'll also be hosting dinner and family time with my sister and brother and their families. My parents are in Alaska, so we'll definitely be missing them (hi mom and dad!) for Thanksgiving, but they'll be "home" soon!

I thought I would try to squeeze in one last fun project before the big feast tomorrow. This idea had been in the back of my head for awhile ever since I saw it on Make and Takes (You have to go check this blog out! Marie has so many great ideas and many of them are meant to be creative with your kids.) Have I mentioned yet that I'm pretty good at borrowing ideas? I borrowed some ideas for a few of my October projects, too.

It wasn't until Monday that I got the necessary supplies to create these little turkeys and then finally this morning we went to work creating some turkey treats. This was one of the traditions I wanted to add to our Thanksgiving this year (along with the other two that I shared about here). I tried to keep things simple this year (no, really I did) since I am heavily involved in my local MOPS group and also working on building my photo card business. However, I still wanted to make the most of this holiday and celebrate being thankful, and of course adding a little bit of fun into it, too!

So, here's the fun...
**For a better explanation than what I'm about to give you, go here where Marie from Make and Takes shared her turkey treat idea. You'll have to scroll down about halfway to find it.

Make a batch of rice krispie treats using Cocoa Krispies. After they cool for a few minutes, grease up your hands with cooking spray and form into balls. Gather together candies (we used Mike & Ikes, candy corn, mini M & M's, and Fruit Loops) and you'll need some toothpicks. Oh, and don't forget to take lots of pictures of your little ones enjoying building their creation. (As you will see, I did plenty of that!)

Enough with the pictures...let's get to work, mom!

Using candy corn, make the turkey's beak. (I used the end of a spoon to make a hole so Mikayla could put the "beaks" in.)

Now find some eyes (mini M & M's). This was a good lesson in matching colors since she had to find two of the same kind. See, I'm even using my teaching skills!

For the feathers, poke 5-6 toothpicks into the rice krispy. I had Mikayla use Fruit Loops to make the feathers. Also a good lesson in sorting colors. I also used candy corn as feathers, but found that they didn't stay in quite as good as with the Fruit Loops on the toothpicks.


And this is what Austin did with his Fruit Loops...


Death by toothpicks. Yikes! I was busy doing something and came back to this. I'm thinking Mikayla wanted to give her turkey acupuncture or something.


Voila! Turkey treats! Cute huh?


I decided to wrap these little turkeys up and give them to our guests tomorrow for a take home treat.


Just remember you don't always have to come up with your own ideas to be called creative. You can still be creative by borrowing something you see. It's just a matter of doing it. I think that's one of the reasons why I have loved blogging so much. I am keeping myself accountable for making the most out of daily life while I stay home with my kids...both in creativity and productivity.

OK, enough fun for now. Time to get back to dusting and figuring out how to cook this darn turkey for tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Enjoy this time with your family and friends...

a special touch for the Thanksgiving table

I've been looking for a way that I might be able to spruce up each place setting at our Thanksgiving table (nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?). There have been many different ideas that I have been inspired by, but there wasn't anything that I felt like I could pull off without too much work and too much money. I'm a pretty simple girl who likes to decorate and be creative, but I'm not one to go overboard. Our Thanksgiving is going to be a little bit smaller this year with 6 adults, and 4 children under the age of 4 years. I didn't need to do anything extravagant...just something to give the table some extra pizzazz!

I finally decided on what I wanted to do, but needed to find a few things first. I was on a hunt for some small fall decor pieces. Um, that's almost impossible since every store is decked out head to toe in Christmas. What's Fall anyway?

Thankfully, as I was standing in line to check out at Michael's craft store (with no fall items in hand mind you), I looked up and saw this pre-made wreath at 80% off. It didn't catch my attention to actually use as a wreath because it looked a little disheveled (when the cashier took it down, some of the leaves and berries fell off). Anyway, I thought I could take all the pieces off and use them for other things...like for my table settings. Plus, now I have an empty wreath to use for future craftiness! We'll see what comes of that!


I didn't bother buying cloth napkins. Less laundry, right? I thought I could pull off a simple (but still cute) look with nice paper napkins. I used the large white ones from IKEA (a package of 100 for $2.99...a whole lot cheaper than cloth!)

I took two different colored leaves, placed them on the white napkin (with the side corners folded in) and placed the silverware on top.


Then I added some berries and wrapped up the bottom and tied with a gingham ribbon (which I just so happened to find on clearance...score!)


I wanted to also have placecards at each table setting, but then I thought I could just add a little tag with our names and call it good. I think it turned out pretty cute. I'm going to set these on top of each plate around the table. The rest of the table will probably look pretty simple since it will mostly be full of food and almost half of the guests will be kids anyway.


I even made little silverware settings for the kiddos.


And, now they're all ready to go!


Simple and cute works for me!

Find out what works for others at Works for Me Wednesday hosted by Rocks in My Dryer.

thankful

I'm so lucky.

For so many things.

To start out with, I've been blessed with growing up in a loving, Christian home surrounded by family everywhere I look. It's the best feeling. The best way to grow up.

And friends? I have an abundance! I have some of the best friends who encourage, and have made me a stronger and better human being.

And, of course, there's this amazing man who swept me off my feet. How thankful I am that the Lord saved him just for me! I can't imagine my life without him by my side.

picture taken by Annie's photography

There aren't enough words to express the thankfulness I have for my beautiful children. Just thinking about this gift I have been given brings me to tears. How could I be so lucky? They are my reason for loving life even more.

picture taken by Annie's photography

Thankfulness comes in all sorts of forms and shapes. There's that deep thankfulness that you can't deny that there is a God that has given you these things. And there's a sweet thankfulness of all the little things that make life just a little easier and more enjoyable.

As this week of Thanksgiving begins, it's only fitting to give thanks for the things you have been blessed with. May you pause, at least for a moment, and give thanks to The One who has given you this life.

making some traditions - Thanksgiving style

Did I seriously go 3 days without posting? I guess you could say, I needed more hours in my days this week!

Here are a couple of little Thanksgiving projects that I've been working on and finally finished.

Thankful Tree
I was first inspired by something I saw in a Paper Crafting for kids magazine, but it required just a bit more "craftiness" than I could dish out, so when I saw this cute version, I went from there!

I used some weeping willow branches I've had for a very long time and use as my every day decorations. They seemed too perfect (and easy) to not use for this project.

For Thursday's 100 Days to Christmas challenge, we were challenged to stop and take a moment to truly honor this holiday and give thanks to the things that we have been blessed with. Tonight after we finished eating, my husband and I wrote down things that we were thankful for on each leaf and then I hung them on the "tree".


Earlier in the day, while I worked on my project Tayla worked on her project by coloring her own leaves. We even used glitter! I know, I felt somewhat daring...still in control, mind you, but daring nonetheless. She told me some things that she was thankful for and so these are on our refrigerator to remind us of that.



Cornucopia of Thanks
After I saw this cute inspiration, I used this idea for our local MOPS group November craft (I am the Creative Activities Leader). I made a sample for each of the tables, so now I have 6 of these that I have decided to use for some decor at my Thanksgiving table. Yes, I am hosting this year! I'm super excited since this will be our first one (but no so much with the whole turkey thing) I plan on hanging these on the back of each of my guests chairs with a little treat inside (sorry, Kristen, if I spoiled the surprise for you!). You can also use it as a holder for all the things that you are thankful for by writing them on slips of paper and putting them inside.


We were encouraged by our speaker at this month's MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting to choose just 1 or 2 traditions to include as part of your Thanksgiving holiday each year. For this year, these are the 2 that I will be using! (Oh, and maybe one more that just sounds like too much fun not to do!)