DIY Gift Bags

Almost Christmas! So excited! :)

 Here's some gift bags I put together for different family gifts! They were super easy--I picked up a few two pack of bags at the Dollar Tree, and came up with some ideas for the front. 

Cute Cute Cute!

I used scrapbooking paper, construction paper, jewels, dyed doilies and sticks--everything I already had!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Laffa Bread Recipe

Howdy! 

Today I want to share with you a DELICIOUS recipe I found for Laffa Bread. 

Laffa Bread is a thick, soft flatbread. It is usually used to dip in and eat hummus. I absolutely LOVE hummus, and Laffa Bread is the perfect bread to eat it with!

 So here's the recipe!

Laffa Bread  

*7 cups unbleached bread flour plus another ½ cup in case the dough is little too sticky

*1 package dry rapid rise yeast

*2 tablespoons sugar

*1 teaspoon salt

*4 tablespoons olive oil

*3 cups of warm water

 Combine the dry ingredients.  Add the oil and water. If using a mixer, mix with the dough hook until the dough is very smooth, soft and elastic.  If making by hand; after you add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix by hand in the bowl for a few moments until well combined and coming together.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about ten minutes until smooth and elastic.

In all cases after the kneading, place the dough in an oiled bowl and loosely cover with plastic wrap.  Then cover the bowl with a tea towel and place it in a draft free warm corner so the dough may rise.  In about an hour, when the dough has doubled or more, punch the dough down.  Divide the dough into 10-12 equal balls, and then roll the balls until smooth.  Place the balls on an oiled cookie sheet.  Cover them with a damp tea towel and let the dough balls rest for about ten minutes.  Resting makes the dough easier to roll out.

Pre-heat a grill pan to medium. I found that the large non stick grill pan was the easiest to work with.  Take a ball of dough in your hands and flatten it out on an oiled wood surface.  Roll it out with a rolling pin or use your hands.  Make a circle about 12 inches in diameter and place the Laffa on the hot grill surface.  When you see the edges looking dry and the bread is poofing up turn it over.  Laffa only takes a few minutes to grill.  Place the finished Laffas in between some kitchen towels to keep warm.  

YUM YUM YUM!!

Christmas Card Door

So our house isn't the biggest. Sure, there's smaller houses. But it's a hair under 1500 square feet. So most of the time, I'm trying to come up with creative ideas on how to store and display things without taking up too much room.

 That's when I came up with my Christmas Card Door idea! 

 I wrapped my entryway closet door in a cute wrapping paper found at Target, and then hot glued twine on the inside of the door. Add some clothespins, and WOOHOO! You have a perfect spot to display your Christmas cards.

 Now if I could just get a few more, I could fill up my whole door!

SUPER easy fabric ruffled flower REFASHION!

Hey friends!

 Almost Christmas....16 days to be exact! Can you believe it?! Have you got your Christmas shopping done? Cuz I SURE haven't! YIKES!

 So today, I want to share with you this cute little revamp I did on my 2 year old's shoes.

 It began like this.

 Went out to pick up a few things at the stores. Crowded as HECK. Went to Target to look for tennis shoes for her, because she's growing out of all her converse (side note--we like our kiddos to have fashionable shoes--doesn't need to be expensive, just cute. I mean, cute kids need cute shoes right?!), so we took a looksie. Target didn't have ANY cute girl tennis shoes. They DID, however, have some cute BOY tennis shoes. When my husband showed me a pair, my first thought was NO!!! Then, I considered for a moment--If I got these shoes, I wouldn't have to go to....dun dun dun.....THE MALL on a Saturday afternoon. I would be done looking for tennis shoes for her, if only until I have the strength and energy to put in another round of shopping to find some cuter ones. And THEN, the thought crossed my mind....I could REFASHION these and make them CUTE! So we bought them. 

  Holy Moly, aren't these CUTE or WHAT?!

 Let's do a before and after:

Here they are. In all their "boy glory". Although super cute pattern. But very BOY.

ANNNNDDDDDD....

AFTER!

SQUEAL!!!!

 Look at these sweet little toddler tootsies! Oh, how I love them!

The tutorial I followed for the flowers is this one from Ruffles and Stuff (Disney, HOLLA!)

Only I added a small pink circle in the center and a pink button :)

Very cute, chic and just plain AWESOME!

 Do you agree?

Do you Advent? We DO!

We have never officially celebrated Advent before. But this year, when I came across this advent focused book Good News For Great Joy by John Piper, I was DELIGHTED to download it and start the advent tradition!

 So each day starting tomorrow leading up to Christmas Eve, we will be reading from this book! The layout is super simple, dating and titling the chapters for a daily devotional reading.

 You can download it onto you computer as a PDF, or you can download it as a  EPUB file which is formatted for readers like the Nook, Sony Reader, and Apple iBooks (iPad, iPhone, iPod).

It's also available for us kindle users in a MOBI file. 

How to transfer EPUB file to Nook

How to transfer MOBI file to kindle

PLEASE join us as we start this tradition tomorrow! We are so excited to see what Jesus is going to do in ALL of our hearts these next 23 days! 

 So, you in?! 

LET'S DO THIS THING!