ShopenCraftenAtors

I know it may seem like I am totally behind.  That is because I am.  I figure I am here on this earth to make you feel more organized than you are by simply looking at my example :0}  If you don't, you should.  Despite my never ending efforts, I cannot keep up with ANYTHING!  That is why, this mid-December evening, I am finally posting about Thanksgiving weekend.  And yes, as you can tell by my title, I have been watching WAY more Phineas & Ferb than the normal brain ever should.  Emmers knows it is one kids show I do like.  That means if she picks Phineas & Ferb to watch while I am working, she gets to watch way more TV than usual.  Smart Girl.

So anyway, we had SO much fun over Thanksgiving.  The SewCakeMaker's were invited to a friend's house for the actual Thursday Thanksgiving festivities.  About 4:30pm, Madison and I checked ourselves out of the party and headed for Mankato, Minnesota for some Black Friday shopping.  Eli calls it Black Ops for Women.  That is pretty accurate.  

I wasn't actually sure I was going to make it shopping this year.  I was just getting over a bad case of bronchitis and was desperate for sleep.  Mankato is about 1.5 hours from our house, and with the sun disappearing around 4:30 now-a-days, it makes staying awake for the drive a challenge.  Luckily we were armed with peppermint hot chocolate from Kwik Trip and a fabulous book on tape to keep us going.

Our first stop was Target for their 8pm door busters.  I dropped Madison off in line next to this very nice girl and went to sleep in the car for a half hour. 

When I came back Madison had made friends with everyone in line.  Silly girl.  It was about 10 degrees out there in line, so we kept warm wrapped in blankets and checking and re-checking ads while we waited.

Target was as fabulous as always.  We got our little granola bars while we waited to get into the store.  The Target employees handed out maps showing where each doorbuster would be located.  Before we knew it we were inside and headed to our treasures.

Really the rest is a bit of a blur.  Here is what I can show you...I need this shirt!

Just in case you don't get it, my name is Vanessa!  I have, in my youth, been known to answer to Nessy, Ness, or The Nessinator.  Ok, maybe not the last one, but HELLO!  Shirt...me...want.

Madison and cousin Alexa {actually MY cousin, not Madison's} had to get their yearly photo with the Hollister boys.  Yep.

Friday morning I got to stand in this line at Menards, Minnesota's version of Home Depot.  I was literally feet from the back wall of the store.  Crazy, isn't it!?!  Crazier still, I made my way to the front in less than 20 minutes.  I am super impressed Mankato!  Way to keep up with Black Friday shoppers!!!

The rest of this is just a jumble of random thought.  Check out the birch for sale at Micheal's.  

Remember this:

Bins and bins of birch wood used to make these:

and These:

Um, well, I guess I should have sold them.  Wowzers!  Micheals is making a KILLING off of those birch branches!

Madison wants this movie.  She has been trying to remember the name for years.  One long line staring into space at some random store...BAM!  Found.

I found this book and the next at Joanns.  The Collage Couture book I saw back in June at a Joanns in Shakopee, MN.  I flipped through it, was intrigued, and too cheap to buy it or the other three I loved.  Ever since I wished I would have purchased them {especially this one about crafting with plaster, WANT!}  Anyway, I decided to take a picture so when I am rich and famous I can run over to Joanns with my 40% off coupon and buy.

I know this is kinda nerdy, but I am actually really interested in learing more about working with metal.  I figure a nice book on soldering would be a great place to start.  I flipped through this book the whole time we were waiting for the cutting counter to call our number.  I probably put down and picked back up this book about 12 times.  In the end, I wanted to make sure I had enough money for presents and put this back.  I will be back though.  I just recently inherited a soldering iron and I am very anxious to start learning.

Have you seen all the new home decor at Hobby Lobby???  I am sure this one stood out to me because I have a yellow/grey thing going on in my bedroom, plus the fact that yellow IS my favorite color, but I decided to take a picture of this sign in case I decide to come back for that too.  

Well, we shopped until there was nothing left to buy, then headed down to Grandma's house.

Grandma has her big family dinner on Saturday.  My sister Kallie, daughter Madison and I got the kiddos together to make some crafts for the dinner table.  

They worked very hard at making some crayon turkeys.

They look like this:

Remind me next year and I will make a pattern for these ;0}  

They turned out so cute!  And they were fast to cut out, fast to paint, and so cute on the Thanksgiving table.

My little 2 yr old niece even had a great time painting her turkey.  When we took them over for the dinner she even knew who painted which turkey and just where they should sit :0}  What a cutie.

We also had the kids decorate some placemats for the dinner table.  Emmalee in particular was all business with this assignment.  I think I have a little artist on my hands with her.  She loves to draw and write night and day.  I hope she never loses that love.

Here is part of our crew, all getting busy using the crayon turkeys and making placemats of their own too.

Still coloring!

Once dinner was over, we started on our traditional post-Thanksgiving crafts.  Remember last year???

We made These:

Uh, yea, I did a much better job last year of taking pictures.  Funny how David was sleeping on the couch last year too!

Anyway, this year I was going for something that I could cut out quickly.  With how crazy my holiday orders have been I really didn't have much time for wood cutting {and my garage is totally frozen...literally...everything liquid out there solid as ice}.

After long deliberation I went with Candy Canes and the same Ornaments I did a few weeks earlier at Super Saturday.

I love that even the guys got crafting.  This is cousin Austin.  He made a candy cane AND one of the holly sets I brought, left over from the Super Saturday.

My baby sister Trina.  She is a fabulous artist, currently college student.

Lots of crafting...

A little sleeping.  

Ta-dah!  Finished.  I love it.  I love bringing the big box of wood in and making grandma's house smell all pine-y.  I love all the ladies, and some of the guys all sitting around creating and laughing together.  Love it.  

Isn't family the best!  If you don't agree, just move away for 7 years like we did.  Try going through all sorts of torturous life experiences all by yourselves, and eventually, you will agree with me...

and this sign...