{craft night & other fun holiday stuff}

I am so excited to share that our monthly craft night was a raging success this week! After our awesome craft night last month, I was really anxious for the next one. We had over DOUBLE as many gals this month and it was an absolute blast. Since I really have had so much going on, I decided to bring in a guest to help out this month. I called on my friend Cheryl who I actually met a few years ago at another friend's craft night, to come and help all of us make homemade glycerin soap. Cheryl brought all of the supplies, etc. for us, including both clear and white solid glycerin soap, TONS of different scents for us to choose from for our soaps, soap shapes to add to the soap so that each slice has personality, cellophane bags for each soap bar...and twine to finish off the bag. They turned out so great and the ladies had SO MUCH FUN!!! (Jewels is going to love that I posted that particular picture at the top of this entry! LOL! I couldn't help it! It's so funny! Just wait Jewels...there are better ones posted below! Hee hee!)

 

Throughout the course of the night, we also had "Get to Know You Drawings." Those who were at last month's craft night had already filled out Craft Night Spotlights and I had the ones who weren't here last month fill one out and add it to my basket. The whole idea for the drawings is first of all, just to add a fun element to the craft nights...and second, to encourage them to come each time...since you have to be present to win! ;-) Anyway...I ended up giving away two soap loaves (you get 8 bars out of each loaf) and a a FREE $200 Photo Shoot. They were all really excited about all of the prizes. We enjoyed an AWESOME SPREAD of homemade soups, salads, rolls and desserts. We had a ton of food and LOTS and LOTS of ladies to eat it! I made probably one of my all-time fave soups EVER....my sister-in-law Whitney's Chicken Tortilla Soup...and HAVE to share it with you!

WHITNEY'S CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

2-3 frozen chicken breasts

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 C. salsa

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 can black beans (drained - you can rinse if you'd like...but not necessary)

1 can mild green chilis

Add everything to crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken from soup after 8 hours and shred. Return shredded chicken to soup and serve with cheese, sour cream and either tortilla chips or fresh salsa. (Adding 3 chicken breasts will make it a thicker soup...I like it that way). I DOUBLED this recipe for our group of about 20..and had just enough leftover for lunch the next day! It's DIVINE!!!

After dinner, we started making our soap loaves. Since Cheryl lives almost 2 hours away, I was worried that we may not be able to make enough loaves to make it worth her drive. She said that as long as we made 10 loaves, it was worth the drive. We ended up making 50!!!! The ladies had so much fun. I can't even count how many times I heard them raving about how much fun it was and how happy they were with their soap. They loved it SO MUCH, in fact, that we are planning to do it again before Mother's Day.

Since I did my soap loaves at the end of the evening, I had time to go around, take pictures and just watch the ladies as they interacted with each other. It was then, that I was able to get these fun pictures of my friend Jewels. LOL! She's so funny...she knows me well enough to know that the camera is whipped out CONSTANTLY and started POSING for me. LOL! She'll die when she sees that I posted them...but they're too fun not to share. Love ya Jewels!

As corny as it sounds, my heart was seriously so happy JUST by watching everyone having such a great time. While I was busy preparing for the evening, Chas commented on how many things I am involved in and how much I do that isn't "profit" related. He asked simply, "What do you get out of doing all of these things?" If he had been there at the craft night, he would understand more clearly what it is that I get from this. My reason for starting the monthly craft night, was the hope that the ladies in our area would get to know each other in a casual, fun and PRODUCTIVE atmosphere and that it would strengthen the unity of our ward. And it is WORKING! I can't even tell you how happy that makes me! We doubled in attendance and almost all of the ladies said how much fun they had and how much they are looking forward to NEXT MONTH! HAPPY DAY! And even better, I love seeing these same ladies who got to know each other at the craft night either for the first time or just got to know each other better, sitting together at church and talking in the halls. Oh HAPPY DAY!!! Even I have gotten to know so many gals that I didn't know before last month...and some of the gals I DID know, even BETTER now. It was so fun seeing the serious LOVE that was in the room. It was AWESOME!!! So to answer Chas' question...THAT is what I get out of doing things like this! That's far better than any dollar sign for me! :-)

A few more little things I wanted to share before I hit the sack tonight. Had to share the cutest little prize my mom brought for Duke this week. She had a Christmas stocking made and personalized for each of the dogs in our family. She brought Duke's over this week...and the cute little Pug on the stocking looks just like Dukie! Also wanted to share the funnest advent calendar idea for kids. Kaden went to the Primary party a few weeks ago and they had the little ones make these adorable Christmas tree advent calendars with large bubble wrap. The bubble wrap was cut in the shape of a tree with a number on each of the bubbles. Every day, Kaden gets to pop one of the bubbles until he gets to the very top of the tree on Christmas Eve. Such a cute idea!!

Also wanted to quickly share the neighbor gifts that I made for my sister's neighbors this year. They have quite a few kids in their circle and she wanted to have signs made for their doors so that the little kids could easily see if other kids could play or if they should come back later. I made Julie a set earlier this year and all of the neighbors commented on them.  They were really simple to make, but turned out great. I just used cardstock and had them lamented and adhered a small magnet to the back of each. A fun and simple idea. I believe she is giving each set with a large bag of chocolate covered cinnamon bears. YUMMMM! Definitely a fun idea!

Well, I'd better take off. I have so many more fun things to share (including the YUMMY brownie recipes from Jodi's shower), but it will have to wait until tomorrow!!! Until then, make today a GREAT ONE!!!!

Comments

[Jenifer]

Oh how fun! Do you have directions for the soap making? I would love to try this with my daughters sometime.

[Linda U]

You have WAY too much fun!!! I love reading about all your activities and ideas! I still don't know how you do it all...I wish I could get MY sister to make MY neighbor gifts!LOL! Looking forward to January :)

[Brooke Vincent]

I can't believe you posted those pics of Julie, she will truly kill you. However, they did make me laugh my butt off! Thank you so much for planning these fun nights, I had a blast doing my soaps and they smell so yummy I don't really want to give them away. (Besides the fact that mine are a little bit ugly, I know better for next time!)

[Tierney]

I love it that you posted the pics of Jewels! I want to make more soap already. I'm grateful I have a crafty friend since I wasn't born with an ounce of craftiness in me.

[Sharla Hunt]

I guess you found Cheryl's phone number... LOL! :o) Isn't Cheryl the best?!! I love her and her soap business. :o) I still have tons from all the craft nights and parties that our neighborhood has had. Glad to see you guys had a good time!

P.S. Cheryl also does birthdays! For Paige's B-day one year, we had Cheryl come over and help with her birthday party. All the girls had such a blast!!

[Julie Rowe]

You are in SO much trouble! I think I'm going to have to start to take my camera with me and snap some lovely pics of you! Soap night was fun though. Obviously I get a little loopy when I'm having a good time...

[Michelle Payne]

I'm so jealous, you always have the best time.

I want to try out your soup. My BFF Mom's just got in from OK and I thought she has to work for the first few days this might be helpful to have dinner already done for her and she can spend more time with her Mom. Just one quick question, do you rinse off the black beans or add the entire can with juice?

[Jenni Sohm]

The soup is really good if you add corn to it. I also like to fry tortilla shells and dip them in the soup. Way good.