Christmas Outfits

  I just finished sewing Abby's Christmas dress and Cole vest and tie! I wanted to share the results with you! :D I just LOVE the way they turned out! Feast your eyes on all this CUTENESS!!!

  So, I didn't get the covered buttons on the vest yet, I was too excited to see how they would look together! p.s. Ignore the sweat pants too! He he, that's how we roll around here!

From Christmas Outfits

  He is such a Ham!!!

From Christmas Outfits

  I love how the satin purple POPS the purple in the plaid!

From Christmas Outfits

  Is her boat neck dress not just ADORABLE! I have no idea how I came up with it, since I didn't use a pattern!

From Christmas Outfits

  He told her, he was giving her Princess Kisses ;)

From Christmas Outfits

  I think I am going to make Abby a faux fur wrap in black with a big satin bow! I don't know if I should make it tie in the front or on the side! What do you think?

From Christmas Outfits

  I love when they are so sweet to each other!

From Christmas Outfits

  Believe me, it's not as often as I would like! At least I have a few of these special moments captured on film. Like this one...

From Christmas Outfits

  Did you see Abby is wearing a Becoming Martha Flower in her hair and on her dress. My plan is to open the shop for all of you, Dec. 2nd!!!! I am so excited!

From Christmas Outfits

  Children are truly a gift from the Lord!

From Christmas Outfits

  Here is a blurry picture of the back of Abby's dress!

From Christmas Outfits

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!


Thanks for stopping by,


Jeni

And the Winner is...

  Good morning to everyone! Thank you all for entering our giveaway Monday, I am so excited to announce the winner of our very first contest...


(Not sure why I can see 16 in my edit, but NOT on the page! Sorry guys I will try to figure that out before the next giveaway!)

From Becoming Martha Boutique

It is... Tracy's comment  "I would win this for my daughters and I to share!" Thank you all for playing along :) Tracy please email me at becomingmartha@yahoo.com, so I can get it shipped out quickly!

From Becoming Martha Boutique

Remember Ladies the other flowers will be available in the Becoming Martha Boutique, so you can always get your favorite color flower in a few weeks,when it opens!!! :) Have an AMAZING weekend!


Thanks for stopping by,

Jeni

Becoming Martha Boutique Giveaway!!!

  It is our very first GIVEAWAY!!! I am so excited to be able to let one lucky reader choose a cute flower pin from our new Etsy shop.... Becoming Martha Boutique I am still working on the inventory, but very soon it will be stocked with all sorts of cuteness! :)

  For now you have 3 choices for the giveaway....
 

From Becoming Martha Boutique

Teal:

 Flowers can be attached to a thin headband...

From Becoming Martha Boutique

From Becoming Martha Boutique

From Becoming Martha Boutique

Pink:

  Used as a cute hair clip...

From Becoming Martha Boutique

They look great in kids hair too...

From Becoming Martha Boutique

My Model was not into taking pictures today...

From Becoming Martha Boutique

Purple:

From Becoming Martha Boutique

Or you can wear it as a cute pin on your favorite jacket or cardigan. :)

From Becoming Martha Boutique

   Which one do you want?

From Becoming Martha Boutique

So here is how the giveaway will work... I would like you to leave comments on this post for entries! Each person can have up to 3 entries by doing the following.

1. Follow Becoming Martha on Facebook! Then come back and leave a comment like, "LIKED on you fb"

2. Become a follower of this blog! You can do that by clicking the follow button on my sidebar. Then leave a separate comment like "I am a follower"

3. Comment and tell me which flower you would like and who it is for. :)

For the comments to count they need to be separate comments for all THREE! Then, Friday November 18th, I will enter the number of comments on random.org to get the winning comment! Because of shipping cost this giveaway will only be open to followers in the United States. Sorry Ladies, but I will try to have another contest open to everyone soon!

Okay, let the free fun begin!!!!


Jeni

The Table is Set

 Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to the men, women, and their families who sacrifice so much to keep our country free! God Bless America!

  I wanted to share this AMAZING peanut butter cookie recipe I have used for years! I can't tell you the number of positive comments I have had on these cookies! They are just that good! I mean the recipe calls for a WHOLE jar of peanut butter, how can they not be awesome? Ha ha! They are crisp on the outside and super moist on the inside. If you like hard cookies this is not the cookie for you, but if you attack the cookies as soon as they get out of the oven (like I do) just to get the soft, melt in your mouth goodness, then here is the recipe for you! ;) I copied and pasted the recipe here, but this is the link to it on allrecipes.com.

From Nov. Projects

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar ( I have used 2 cups white sugar and they still turned out great!)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 egg ( I use 3 eggs, so I don't waste.)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (18 ounce) jar peanut butter
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped peanuts ( I don't put peanuts in mine.)

1. In a large bowl cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, yolks, and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Stir in peanut butter. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, stir in the peanuts. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
3. Roll dough into walnut sized balls. Place on the prepared cookie sheet and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cookies should look dry on top. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to cool completely on a rack. These cookies taste great when slightly undercooked.  ( First I use a cookie scoop and leave them in mounds to bake for 10 minutes, then I pull them out to put the fork indentions on top, and bake for another 3 minutes for perfection!!! This way they keep the fork indention, because a peanut butter cookie is NOT a peanut butter cookie with out them!)  :)

 Here is some cute pictures of my babies helping make (i.e. eating) the cookie dough.

From Nov. Projects

From Nov. Projects

 Check out my cute table setting :) I am working on the other set of place mats and napkins tonight! Getting everything ready for Thanksgiving!!!

From Nov. Projects

I made the little place cards with my Cricut, and found the material at Hancock Fabrics for the place mats and napkins. Four place settings for $16, not bad ;). I am really loving this print too, it reminds me of Pottery Barn, or Ballard Design fabrics!

From Nov. Projects

 I shared this photo the other day on the Becoming Martha FB page and the ladies voted for me to embroider a red letter "R" on the center point. Hopefully I can get all four sent off next week!

From November 4, 2011

Yummy!!!

From Nov. Projects

They felt so special to be apart of Mommy's tea party! :) It makes all the days troubles worth it!

From Nov. Projects

My handsome little man!

From Nov. Projects

Thanks for stopping by,


Jeni

We Hit 100,000 Page Views

  I am so excited about hitting 100,000 page view since starting my blog in June that I am going to do a GIVEAWAY!!! Check back here Monday to see what it is going to be :)

P.S. Here is a sneak peak of what I am working on this week...


Pottery Barn Knock off Napkins and place mats.

From November 4, 2011

 My FB fans voted and I am going to embroider a red letter "R" on the center point of the napkins. I am so excited to get them finished! Here is the same photo with a picnik edited "R" :D

From November 4, 2011

  Thank you all so much for your sweet comments which keep me going! Sometimes I am just not sure about how my projects are turning out, and then I will hear my phone ding. With those encouraging words I get so much more inspired to create more beautiful things! I really get so excited to read your feedback! God bless you all.


Thanks for stopping by,
Jeni

Ballard Design Shelves Tutorial

  I don't know about you, but I love me some YHL (aka: "Young House Love"). I seriously stalk their page daily to read their new posts and search the old ones for inspiration! :) Well, Sherry from YHL and Katie from Bower Power came up with the...

From Fall Family Pics

  I was at a lost as to what to do for my project, I mean, have you ever visited Pinterest? It is inspiration overload! I will get on for just a minute to look for something, and two hours later I am still pining!!! LOL! Well I was sick this week and looking around as I laid dying on the couch ;) . I started moving things around in my head (I have decorating super powers, haha). I knew if I moved my Art Blocks to a different wall I could use that space for this...

From Fall Family Pics

  Enter Shelley from house of Smiths AMAZING-NESS!!! Sick or not I had to have these shelves asap! So the next day off to Lowe's I ran, there I met Travis, my Lowe's handy helper (sorry only a mom of two little ones who watches Disney channel all morning long will get my humour), LOL.

From November 4, 2011

  Cole was very excited to be Travis' big helper. He wanted to hold Travis' hand as we walked over to the lumber.

From November 4, 2011

From November 4, 2011

  There we found a 5 1/2 inch x 8 ft board for $9.16 ( and it was pre primed), SCORE!

From November 4, 2011

From November 4, 2011

  Next we went over to the decorative trim section and found this case molding, 10ft for $8.80.

From November 4, 2011

  In the same section was the wooden brackets, which were 4 for $3.34.

From November 4, 2011

  Here is where the AWESOME part comes in ... Lowe's did almost all my cutting for me! I had him cut the 5 1/2 in board down to 42 inches, and 32 inches. ( Because of where my studs were on the wall I could not fit 3ft and 4ft shelves.) Next he cut my trim to 44 inches and 34 inches  and 4 pieces at 6 1/2 inch (to leave room for the miter cut) I only had to do 8 miter cuts at home, which saved me some serious time!

From November 4, 2011

  After we thanked Travis for his great costumer service we were back in the car and home in 45 mins flat for the total trip. Talk about instant gratification! Next I made the 4 miter cuts and used my brad nailer to nail it together in 20 mins, we are doing good! I found the can of stain from our kitchen cabinets and added one coat to the brackets with a foam brush. I really wanted to stain my brackets to play on the contrast from the shelves and tie into my cabinets since they are right across from them!

From November 4, 2011

From November 4, 2011

  While they dried I caulked all the holes and cracks. I left it over night to dry and painted it with 2 coats in the morning. My canned tomatoes were perfect for painting blocks. Next, I found where my studs were and hung both sets of brackets, then added the white shelves on top, and shot 2 brad nails from the top into the top of the brackets. Now it was time to decorate...

From November 4, 2011

  Looking around the house I found a few things here and there and threw this together... Not bad for not buying a thing.  Can you believe I found those cute little berry branches on a tree in our yard! ;) Added a little vinyl and I was finished!

Before:

From November 4, 2011

After:

From November 4, 2011

Morning Light

From November 4, 2011

  Cost Break Down:

5 1/2 inch 8ft board        $ 9.16

Case Molding 10ft         $ 8.80

4 wooden brackets         $ 13.36

paint and stain          already had

caulk                        already had

                        Total :  $ 31.32

  Ballard Design shelves are $89  for the 3ft, and $109  for the 4ft  both together are $198
    That is a $166.68 saving!!!

  Hope you have a great weekend, and make something GREAT!!!


Thanks for stopping by,

Jeni