One Word for the New Year

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Happy New Years Eve to everyone! As I sit here and the final hours of 2014 wind down, I have been thinking about the upcoming year! There is one word that keeps coming to my mind when I think about 2015! My “One Word” for 2015 is:

Here is a small description of each of the things that I am determined to work on!

Smile: I am determined to smile more. I am going to think about the good things in life and know that my family gives me something to smile about every day!

Blogging: I am determined to blog 2-4 times a week. I love doing crafts and being creative, so there is no reason that I can’t blog about them when they are done. I know that my blog doesn’t necessarily need to be about crafts. It can be about what is happening with my family, about things that I am doing in the community, pretty much anything that I want to blog about!

A Sweet Berry Designs Portfolio: I have slowly been working on my portfolio. But I am determined that January 2015 is going to be a busy busy month worth of working on my portfolio. I also plan to get it up online and get some stationery pieces done!

Getting my house organized: Even though we have started working on getting the house organized while Bruce has been home for the week after Christmas, I am determined to get both of the boys rooms organized, as well as my bonus room that seems to be the catch all room. My garage also needs to be organized.

Reading the Bible daily: I am determined to read the Bible daily. I not only want to read the Bible for myself, but I want to read the it daily with the kids.

Journaling and Doodling: Outside of working on my portfolio and blogging, I am determined to journal and doodle! I love to doodle, so there is no reason I shouldn’t! I’ve journaled in the past and it has helped me get my thoughts out.

Spending more time with my husband: I am determined to spend more alone time with my husband. Just recently both of our children spent the night away on the same night. The next morning, Bruce and I spend the morning drinking coffee together, eating breakfast together, watching a little television together and chatting. There are not a lot of times like that, but it was great to just be with him.

Prioritize: There are a lot of things that I want to do in 2015. I am determined to prioritize those activities!

Stop being a yeller: Unfortunately, I am a yeller. I find myself yelling and it stresses me out and causes a major headache. I am determined to be less of a yeller.

Volunteer more: I am determined to volunteer more. Even though I am in the Junior Woman’s Club of Raleigh and we have a minimum amount of hours that we are supposed to volunteer, I want to volunteer more and involve my kids more. I also would like to volunteer in my Church more.

Be more present with my family: I know that I am a technology dork. I love it. Between my MacBook, my iPad, my iPhone and my Kindle, I could spend all day on them. But I am determined to put them away more and be more present with my family and spend less time with my electronics!

Get into Shape: I am currently working out, but the holidays has put a damper on my motivation to work out. But I am determined in 2015 to work out 5-6 days a week. I want to work out 3 days with my friend Abby and 2-3 days of walking/running. I know I can do it! I also want to get rid of my high blood pressure medications in 2015.

Better eating habits for the whole family: Even though I have been instructed by the doctor to cut down on my carbs and my sugars, I think my family could benefit from this as well. I know my boys are growing and need more carbs than I do, I won’t cut them out of their diets as much as I will for my diet, but we could definitely stand to eat less! We need to add more fruits and veggies to our diets. Even though I am gluten free, I still tend to find carbs in the non-gluten foods. So, more label reading, less processed and more fresh!!!!

Dance more: I love dancing! I am determined to dance more, even if it’s in my house!!! It makes me happy! And my kids love dance parties in the living room!

My list could go on, but these are the things that I want to work on the most! I am determined to be determined in 2015!!!!! I am really looking forward to the New Year! I’m starting my year off with a trip to Anaheim, CA for the Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show and meeting up with one of my favorite people, Laura Kelly. Unfortunately, I won’t be home to help celebrate my husbands 40th Birthday, but I truly appreciate that he is supportive of my adventures! In April, I am attending SNAP blogging conference in Salt Lake City, Utah! And there are lots of other things that will happen in 2015! And I’ll be sure to share all of my adventures with you guys!

HAPPY 2015!!!

Peace and Love!

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas to you and your family!

As I sit here now that everyone has gone to sleep, I am reflecting on this joyous day! It was filled with excitement, a couple of meltdowns, great food and lots of family time! Christmas is my favorite time of the year! The look on the children’s faces once they see what the Jolly Ole Guy has left under the tree is worth all of the stress of the whole year! As I laid awake in my bed from about 5:30am until I heard the kids start to move around in their beds, I quickly jumped up as soon as I heard a foot hit the floor. I was almost too late to catch this picture so it’s a little blurry! I love trying to get a picture of them as they come down the stairs once they see what Santa has left for them!

Now, I know that everyone has their traditions. As I was growing up, Santa never wrapped his gifts. They were always laid out on the couches, my pile on one and my brothers on the other! Santa always wrapped Bruce’s! For our kids, Santa has always wrapped his gifts! What does Santa do for your family?

Our day in a nut shell…….After the kids woke up, we let them open one gift. We had to wait for Uncle Rhett, Cousin Jory, Grandma and Grandpa to arrive. I put a sausage and egg casserole in the oven! Once they were all here, everyone opened one gift! Breakfast of casserole, pancakes (Berry family tradition and now cooked by Bruce), and fruit were served! And coffee too!!! After breakfast was done, the present opening was on! Trying to keep our anxiety under control, we opened one gift at a time! Yes, this took a while. Here are a few of our favorites:

After all of the presents were unwrapped, it was time for lunch! Then it was time for some down time. Everyone left and we just hung out as a family of four, put together some legos, opened all of the packages (those annoying plastic things….ugh) and just sat around. Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for more presents and a yummy dinner of a Rochester, NY Sausage Soup! And then home for bed!

Hmmm….not sure that was entirely a nut shell, but it wasn’t too long!

I know Christmas Day isn’t only about the presents. Thankfully, my children know and understand why this day is special, the day that Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph! And we are blessed and feel very fortunate!

I also sit here and think about those that are no longer here with us, but look down on us from Heaven. And I think about the friends and family that we have all over the country and how much we miss you all.

So, I hope that you had a great Christmas and that Santa was good to you! And I hope that you all have a “Berry” Happy New Year!!!

Peace and Love!

Personalized Christmas Stationery from Expressionery

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This post is sponsored by Expressionery.com and Laura Kelly Designs. Although I received product and financial compensation, all opinions are entirely my own.
Personalized Stationery from Expressionery.com is my favorite, especially when it has Laura Kelly’s Me and My Peeps on it! There is a Peep for everyone, even your pets! There are even Christmas time Peeps. When the package from Expressionery.com came and my boys (Landon, age 7 and Benjamin, age 5) saw that they had their own Me and My Peeps Christmas stationery, they were so excited! Landon is to the age that he loves writing notes, especially to his teachers and friends!

Expressionery.com has a gift for everyone. Personalized stationery is the perfect gift for the holidays, Mother’s Day, Birthdays or even Teacher Appreciation. Or, you can just order it for yourself! Laura Kelly’s collection of stationary is super cute and fun! Her designs are appropriate for children and adults!

A Little Christmas Ornament using our Me and My Peeps Stationery!

We decided to make a cute craft with one of our notecards. They each made a Christmas ornament to send with the note that Landon wrote to his Mimi and Paw! Each boy cut out their own Peep, leaving their name attached.

Using Aleene’s Turbo Tacky Glue, they glued their Peep to a piece of Kunin’s red felt!
After the glue dried, they cut the felt just a little bigger than their Peep!
Next, we used Eyelet Pliers and an eyelet to create a hole so that we could add a piece of string! We used the elastic silver string that came wrapped around our stationery gift from Expressionery.com!!
These lovely homemade ornaments will be sent to Mimi and Paw’s house with the sweet little note that Landon wrote for them! So, go to www.expressionery.com/laurakelly and order some personalized stationery for a gift or for yourself! The deadline to order for Christmas is December 19th. For 30% off site wide, used Promo Code: PEEPS Code expires on 12/30/14 and excludes embossed stationary and paperweights. *Limited time offer valid through December 30, 2014 at 11:55 PM CST. Receive 30% off sitewide plus free standard non-trackable shipping and handling on orders over $50 with offer code “PEEPS” at checkout. Offer excludes embossed stationery and paperweights. This offer may not be combined with any other offer or discount, and shipping fees and sales tax are separate. To prevent abuse, prices, specifications, and availability subject to change without notice from Expressionery.com.
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The Gingerbread Bear Book and Sculpey and Scribbles Ornament

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While walking through the Scholastics Book Fair at my oldest son’s school, I stumbled across The Gingerbread Bear book by Robert Dennis and Illustrated by Tammie Lyon.

In the story, a little girl and her mother are baking a gingerbread bear. After daddy goes to work, mom goes into the garden to do some work and the little girl is left to watch after the oven. Out of curiosity, the little girl opens the oven to have a look, and guess what happens? Out jumps the Gingerbread Bear! And away he runs……

Of course, no one can catch him, because after chanting “Run, Run, try if you dare. You can’t catch me. I’m the Gingerbread Bear!”, he runs away. Throughout the book he runs into different people and animals that think they can catch him. Gingerbread Bear is much to quick for them.

You have to read the book to find out what happens at the end! What a cute little change up to the Gingerbread Man. My boys loved it! The illustrations were awesome!

After we read the book, we decided to make our own Gingerbread Bears, using Sculpey clay and Scribbles paint.

We picked out a brown Sculpey clay, ran it through the clay conditioning machine and then used our gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut them out. After we had them cut out, I used a sharp pick to punch a whole in the top of their heads for ribbon. Then it was time to bake them. I stuck them in the oven for about 13 minutes.
Once they came out of the oven and cooled, We used Ilovetocreate’s Scribbles Fabric Paint (yes, I know it’s fabric paint, but it works on other things too!) to decorate our gingerbread bears!
Once they were dry, they were ready for ribbon and then to be hung on the tree! 🙂 So, go out and pick up this adorable book. The kids are sure to love it! And then go get some Sculpey clay and a gingerbread man cookie cutter and create your own Gingerbread Bear!

Check out these other Christmas time books to read with kids:

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Until next time…….

Button Christmas Tree Earrings

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Check out these adorable Button Christmas Tree Earrings that I made using Laura Kelly’s collection of buttons from Buttons Galore and More! I have a great love for buttons and Laura’s are awesome!

Materials used:
Laura Kelly Buttons from Buttons Galore & More
Head Pins
Earring Hooks
Round Nose Pliers

First, I started out by picking out my buttons. I made sure that the green ones were somewhat graduated, so that they made a tree shape. Then, I chose some brown ones for the trunk and then yellow to represent the star. Once I laid them out the way I wanted them, I placed them on the head pin.
When all of my buttons were on the head pin, I used my round nose pliers to create a loop. I then opened up the end of the earring hook and placed it on the head pin loop and then closed it using the pliers. Then I did the other one the same way!
Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! And they turned out super cute! I plan to wear them a lot during the month of December! Hope you liked my Button Christmas Tree Earrings! Now you can make your own!

Until next time……….

WaterWipes when in need!

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This post is sponsored by WaterWipes and Mommy Bag Marketing. Although I received product and financial compensation, all opinions are entirely my own.

WaterWipes are not only awesome for wiping little bottoms, they are awesome when it comes to snack time! Snack time at our house can get quite messy! Everyone knows what a mess cheese balls can be. And even though cheese balls are a special treat in our house, I’m always amused at just how messy they can be. WaterWipes help clean up the mess quick and easy without the strong smell left behind by other wipes.

Below is my little Benjamin while eating his yummy cheese balls for his afternoon snack!

Benjamin has a severe case of eczema. Pretty much anything that contains alcohol or other harsh chemicals causes his skin to break out into a fiery red rash and his skin becomes itchy and feels like and looks like it’s burning. Thankfully WaterWipes can be used by anyone (babies, toddlers, teens or adults) with sensitive skin. Anyone with a skin condition like eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, etc. can use WaterWipes without any negative effects or discomfort. What a lot of people don’t realize is that most baby wipes contain harsh chemicals, even those that are labeled eco-friendly or organic. WaterWipes are the only baby wipes containing absolutely no chemicals. They are made of 99.9% water and 0.1% fruit extract.

WaterWipes are primarily used to prevent diaper rash. They not only can be used to wipe bottoms and clean up after snack time….They can even be used for clean up of craft projects too! Crafting is something that we are always doing at our house and WaterWipes help clean up the paint from little fingers or glue from off to the table! WaterWipes are a life saver. And they are super gentle on Benjamin’s super sensitive skin. You can keep them in the car, in your craft basket, or in the bathroom!

WaterWipes can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time…….

Kunin Felt Advent Calendar

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No December is complete without an Advent Calendar! This year, I created my Advent Calendar using Felt from The Kunin Group! My kids are super excited for December to arrive so that we can start opening them!

Materials used:
Felt from The Kunin Group (red, green, glitter white)
Sewing Machine with coordinating thread (green and red)
Envelope Patterns that I created using Adobe Illustrator
Letters that were reflected vertically that I created using Adobe Illustrator
Aleene’s Turbo Tacky Glue
Velcro
Laura Kelly Buttons from Buttons Galore & More
Heat & Bond
Pinking Shears
Scissors
Small clothes pins
Rope purchased from ACMoore

Using my envelope patterns, I cut out 24 envelopes. I used both my regular scissors and my pinking shears just to change up the look. Once I had them all cut out, I folded and pinned the sides to get them ready for sewing.
My sewing machine does all kinds of cute little patterns, so I chose a couple of designs and sewed up the sides only to the top of the sides.
Once they were all sewn up, I used my iron to help the flap on my envelopes to stay down.
I didn’t think that a whole piece of velcro was needed, so I cut them into quarters and applied them to the inside of the flap. Keeping the velcro pieces together, I closed my envelope so that they would line up.

Next, I was ready to cut out my numbers! Using Heat & Bond, I ironed it to the back of my sheet of numbers, removed the backing and then ironed it to the back of the sheet of glitter white felt. And then they were ready to cut out! Once they were all cut out, I used an Excel knife to cut out the inside pieces of the numbers.

I really love Laura Kelly’s buttons from Buttons Galore & More and she has a great set of Christmas colors. I chose a read and green for each envelope, glued them using Aleene’s Turbo Tacky Glue and then glued them to the flap of the envelope. I also glued the numbers to the envelopes.

After all of my envelopes were done, I decided to make a felt bow to attach to the string where I was going to clip my envelopes.

Once I was done, I attached the envelopes to the rope and hung it up!

Ready for December! And until next time…..

How do you do your Ranch?!?!

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Just how do you do your Ranch? I was asked if I wanted to join this fun blog hop using Hidden Valley Ranch packet! It was fun and the result was super yummy!!!

I absolutely love Philadelphia Cream Cheese. We always have it in the house. I decided I would mix the Ranch dip packet with my block of cream cheese. I only used half of the packet for my 8 oz bar of cream cheese, saving the rest for another time.

Fortunately for me, the Hidden Valley Ranch dip packet is gluten free!!!! I have also just recently found Glutino’s Gluten Free Bagel Chips! They are fantastic and you’d never know they were gluten free. My family loves them! And they go perfectly with my Ranch Cream Cheese!

This makes a delicious hors d’oeuvre for a before dinner snack or a get together!

Enjoy!

And until next time…..

Check out some other great recipes and ideas using Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Packets!!

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Sculpey Necklace and Earrings

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Clay is not just for kids! I have always loved to work with clay. And Sculpey is such an awesome clay to work with! It’s soft and really easy to use. And come in some really awesome colors!

Below is a picture of the necklace and earrings that I made!

The materials used for this project are as follows:
SculpeyIII Oven Bake Clay
Sculpey Acrylic Roller
Sculpey Super Slicer
Premo! Circle Cutters
Sculpey Bead Baking Rack
Sculpey Bead Making Kit
Sculpey Gloss Glaze
Paint Brush
Clay Conditioning Machine
Hook Earrings
Thin Head Pins
Rope Necklace
Round Nose Pliers
It’s always important to run your clay through a clay conditioning machine to make sure you get all of the air pockets out of the clay, so that it doesn’t break after it’s baked. I ran my three different colors through multiple times before I got started.
I rolled my three colors out at the largest opening that the conditioning machine would allow. Once they were rolled out, I piled them up and then cut to make a rectangle. I made sure to press them together really good so that the air pockets were released. Next, I began to roll the clay to make a cane.

I had a little helper. He used my trimmings to play with the conditioning machine. It provided about an hour of fun with just the little bit of leftovers that there were! He just kept running it through the machine!

Once the cane was rolled, I gave the cane a squeeze to once again remove any air pockets. Using my hand, I continued to rolled slightly pushing outward to make the cane longer and thinner.
Using the Sculpey Super Slicer, I cut .25″ pieces off of the cane. I rolled out a piece of white clay and then placed the slices on the white piece. I didn’t make any specific design. I just organized them the all fit, with barely any white showing. The white was more for the back.
Using the Sculpey Acrylic Roller, I lightly began to roll over the slices, lightly applying pressure so that the slices began to mold together.
Once I had rolled it out to my liking, I used the Premo! Graduated Circle Cutters to cut two different size circles, one for the necklace and two for the earrings. I then used a smaller circle cutter to cut a hole near the tops of the my circles.
Once they were cut, I used the clay baking cushion from the Sculpey Bead Making kit to bake the pieces on. The two pieces on the baking rack are for another project!
After the pieces were baked and cooled, I used the Sculpey Gloss Glaze and a paint brush to create a glossy look!
Once the glaze was dry, I used a cord necklace to loop through the larger piece to create a necklace.
Then I used the thin head pins, the round nose pliers and the earring hooks to create my earrings!
And now they are ready to wear! And these just happen to be the perfect colors for my favorite football team! They are perfect for Game Day!! I hope that you like my Sculpey Necklace and Earrings!

Tulip For Your Home

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I love Tulip brand by ilovetocreate! I have been using this brand forever! This project is a Tulip For Your Home project. It is a pillow that I decorated with a Tulip stencil and Tulip Soft Fabric Paint. Below is a photo of everything that I used for this project, with the addition of FrogTape to help create my Chevron background.
Materials:
Tulip Pillow Cover
Tulip Paint Roller
Tulip Textile Stencil
Tulip Stencil Spray Adhesive
Tulip Soft Matte Fabric Paint
FrogTape

So, using the Chevron FrogTape, I created a Chevron pattern. I did my placing with the backing still on before I actually removed the paper and stuck it to my pillow.
Once I was done placing my chevron pattern, I laid the owl stencil onto and then marked where my owl overlapped the FrogTape. I only marked the tape, not the pillow. After I made my marks, I removed the stencil and cut a section of the tape out so that I’d not have the chevron pattern behind my owl.
Using my roller, I applied the fabric paint around the cut out where my owl will be placed.
After the paint dries, I removed the chevron FrogTape.
Using my Tulip Stencil Spray Adhesive, I sprayed it on the back of the stencil and placed it in the open space on the pillow. Don’t worry if you misplace it, the spray allows you to reposition the stencil. Then it was time to paint the owl. I did this using the roller after I cleaned it.
Instead of using a pillow to insert into the cover, I used some Poly-fil that I had at home!
I am totally obsessed with the results of my decorative Tulip pillow! It was super easy and super fun! So, why not create your own fun decorative pillows instead of buying them!!!
I hope you liked my Chevron Owl Pillow made using Tulip For Your Home!