little black dress? check. ray bans? check. holiday runway party? begin.

Who else is already thinking Christmas? I am already on a good start to my gift buying and just this past weekend found the cutest dress to wear to my husband's work Christmas party. On sale no less! There's something that I find so much fun about holiday parties with everyone dressed up, a fun dinner planned, a night of dancing, driving home late as the first few snowflakes of the night start falling... it can all be very magical!

In honor of my love for Christmas parties and holiday cheer, I've decided to throw a very high fashion holiday runway party right here at Seven Sisters! Let's just pretend it's December for today! Since I know none of my sisters planned for this, I went ahead and browsed around one of my favorite places to look at dresses (etsy!) and found some stunners for ya'll to wear to my party.

velvet dress black/gold heel gold peacock clutch tassel earrings

I'll start things off down the holiday party runway (which I imagine is covered in fake glitter snow with glitter snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and thick gold curtains as a backdrop.) I'll be wearing velvet. Yes, I know- many of you are wondering if velvet got stuck in a steel encased prison in the 80's. Not so. Velvet is making a comeback and I'll be wearing it to the party. Try to keep your eyes off the sash, I know it's shiny. Also, how fun are tassel earrings? You'll also notice I have a small thing for peacock feathers.

Blue party dress platform pumps gold purse necklace

MJ arrives! Now, I know she's usually not this on time for the blog, but she's a new mom so we let it slide ;). hehe. I picked a blue dress for MJ, it's quite stunning and classic, just like her. It makes me want to go out and find a big white cape with a fur-lined hood to add to it. And what's this? MJ brought those caramel cookies I love. She's passing them out during her runway walk. So sweet.

black evening dress suede ruffle wedges polka dot clutch necklace earrings

Queue the holiday music as the curtain rises on Nel and Lulu, back to back with arms crossed- a little holiday attitude has arrived on stage. I love this dress, it's like Jackie O meets more awesome. And a polka dot clutch?! Nel, you're a statement maker.

plaid dress jewel flats coin purse earrings bracelet anklet

I have to say, this dress is my absolute favorite. You can't see from this picture, but it even has pockets, hence the reason Lulu only needs a cute little coin purse! And I even found a jingle bell anklet on etsy! How awesome is that? She's in tune with the music on her way down the runway! I can hear the Mayor giving a standing ovation from the sidelines.

gold dress clutch shoes

We all know Mar is a fashionista, so I picked out a fashionable and high class gold dress for her! Naturally, she would have crocheted her own clutch, and the shoes- the shoes! After them, she didn't need much more accessorizing! Just don't trip on the catwalk!

Satin bow dress ruffle boot cherry clutch

It's J's turn down the runway, and I'm not sure what makes this outfit more...the boots, or the clutch or the beaded necklace. I like em all. Now out to the runway J or no water! ;)

purple dress black booties tweed clutch black tights pearl cluster earrings

Entering the runway in true dramatic fashion, it's Jenn in an unexpected ensemble. (Jenn, don't be mad. I put you in a sweater dress. You really did look so awesome in that purple sweater dress you tried on last weekend!) With some cute booties to boot, and who can resist a little tweed around the holidays?

And what would any runway party be without a gentleman?

We'll let the Marshmallow wrap up the runway walk, I think his photo pretty much speaks for itself. He's got the paparazzi all over him.

Ok, girls- now it's honesty time!

Are you wearing your dress? Stealing someone else's? What dish are you bringing to the party?

Not a sister? You're still invited! Post a link to your favorite etsy holiday dress!

Thank you all for humoring me and letting me waste a bunch of time putting together holiday party outfits from etsy and then calling it a blog runway party and forcing you down a figurative catwalk ;). I had a lot of fun keeping myself busy with this! Like Mar said below, Christmas will be here before we know it, and I can't wait- time off of work to just relax, time to spend time with family and friends, and just feel refreshed with some quality fellowship!

Is that Christmas Knocking at my Door

I know its only October, but Christmas is just around the corner. Every year around this time I think of something special to do for Little L for Christmas. This year my husband and I decided we needed a project to do together. That way we could spend more time doing things together instead of watching TV at the end of the night. I know... how romantic! We decided to make her a dollhouse together. Complete with all the trimmings. I know.... its going to be alot of work. We got one of the kits that you have to build and paint and decorate all on your own. But I think it will be a fun adventure for us. We ordered the dollhouse from amazon.com and this is what it looks like:

I'm still not sure what color I am going to do to the siding and shutters...Any suggestions?? I also do NOT want to leave the inside just the color of the wood. I'm not sure if I should modpodge it or do some kind of paint treatment...Any suggestions?? I also want to figure out how to make curtains and cute accessories for the house like rugs and such so I'm up for any of those suggestions as well... Please.. I would love it.

When I was a little girl my sister 'S' had the most beautiful doll house and the cutest family to go inside. They were the calico critters bear family. So recently I went on the hunt to see if they still made them anymore, and just my luck they are one of the hottest things at the toy store right now. I found them right at toys r us. I just couldn't believe my luck! We got Little L the Hopscoptch Rabbit family. They are just too stinkin cute! I can't wait to put this all together for her!

Who's for Dinner?

It's that time of year...time for spooky food! First, let me clarify that I know some of you probably don't want to see anything about Halloween and I wouldn't say we necessarily "celebrate" Halloween but I have always amused my children with these creations during October. We don't make anything really gross or evil, just ideas I have found over the years that are cute and silly. We make most of these every year and the kids still get a kick out of them, kinda a family tradition now!

First are the three mummy meals, the English muffin pizza mummies, the hot dog mummies which are hot dogs wrapped in strips of refrigerator breadsticks and baked, and a new addition...the meat loaf mummy. This is meatloaf shaped like a mummy and then covered with strips of American cheese and returned to the oven to let the cheese melt a little bit.

A fan favorite to make is the vegetable skeleton.

A taco salad gets spook-a-fied with sour cream and black olive eyes.

This is a new find, swamp creatures made out of mac-n-cheese baked in muffin tins and sitting on cooked spinach. (will they eat the spinach??)

And finally, the grand finale, the slitherin' Stromboli! It is pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese rolled up inside pizza dough and baked in an "s" shape. So cute and yummy too!

Lulu's smile for the week...winning a swim meet this week!
Lulu's frown for the week...homework

Nel's smile for the week...it didn't rain yesterday, how nice to see blue sky!
Nel's frown for the week...too few hours spent on sleep

Who wants to be a bench warmer in my house?

They are finally complete! My benches that I have waited so long for! It started off as a simple project for "S" and I to do together. Somehow our father became involved and behold! They must be perfect! We were using some old wood from our garage to build 2 benches that would sit in our front mudroom. It is a fairly large room for a foyer and I wanted a place for guests to sit when they were entering or leaving my house so they could put on or take off their shoes. Dad came over to help us cut the wood, and not only did it need cutting, but he also planed the sides (meaning that he put the wood through one of his many wood working machines and it would come out smooth and sanded on the other side.

Once we saw how beautiful the wood was on the inside, my husband couldn't resist taking over from there. So "S" and I were out of a job. The only task I was allowed to do was stain the benches and apply the upholstery which "S" and I picked out together (at least we got to do something).

I am very please with the way they turned out and even though it took a little while to get everything done, I am grateful for all of the help I received.

scrappy Gap shirt

My mother in law got me a very fashionable and comfortable Gap tee this year for my birthday. Unfortunately, I snagged it on something and ended up with two little holes, right in the front! You can dress me up but you can't take me out....


Not cool.


I really like this shirt. It fits me well and is awesomely comfortable. The holes were getting bigger every time I wore it. I was sad that it might go to waste. I considered trying to sew the holes together, however the fabric of the shirt is too delicate for that to last.

My other plan was a cute little heart patch. The only problem is, it would land directly on my belly button! Not very grown up...

I decided to expand the heart patch idea and use some felt fabric scraps I had leftover in my craft desk. I scrounged around for some various lids (milk, bell jar, heavy cream) and started tracing and cutting!


Once I had tons of little circles, and a few hearts, I laid my pattern out on the shirt.


Once I had everything arranged just so, I started sewing together the doubled up patches. See exhibit A below:


And this is what the shirt looked like once those pieces were all sewn together!


The last part was the most time consuming. I took the patches off and laid the pattern out next to the shirt while I sewed the pieces on one at a time.

But, check out the result! Cute, huh?! And this little transformation only took me an hour fifteen and cost nada dollars!


This project would be great for older kids too, teaching them how to sew. They can update a plain old t-shirt into something personalized and just their style.

In case you're curious, yes, I'm wearing my new scrappy Gap shirt as I type this. :)

Also, the hubs' response to whether he liked it or not was, "it's very YOU." So I call this craft: Project Success.

♥ an apple a day keeps the blogger blogging ♥

i promised apples, so here are apples :P...
...Mar has paved the way from Monday to Tuesday yet again...
...so i am forever grateful... pumpkins are my favorite fall food item thingy...but apples do come in close 2nd, applesauce, apple crisp, apple betty, apple turnovers, caramel apples, bring an apple to the teacher apple...and oh yes, they're really kinda cute n' chunky, and google has lots of apple clipart :D
ps. click on any image to see the project...

free printables! cutie pie apple notes ♥...




an apple pattern i have, but yet to make ♥...




an apple i want to make ♥...




back-to-school cupycakes ♥...






















super fun teacher gift ♥...



apple book we love to read...it explains the Trinity to young children by using an apple...just as the apple consists of three parts: the skin the flesh the seeds ...it is still one apple.God had three persons:Father, Son, Holy Spirit...but He is one God. for Ages 4-9 ♥...

















now where would i be without giving
props to Martha? ♥...

























A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver...
Proverbs 25:11 ♥...

Golden and Delicious

Pretty much my favorite thing about fall is going apple picking. I love the pumpkin patch, hot spiced apple cider, fresh donuts, hay rides, cool crisp air, but by far apple picking tops the list. My favorite apple to pick is the golden delicious apples. Months in advance I plan out a day to do nothing else but go apple picking, when the golden delicious apple is ripe for picking. Little L, MJ (one of the other seven sisters) and I go out and pick bags and bags of golden delicious apples and then come home and make tons of applesauce.

Over the years we have become better and faster at making applesauce. Each year we think of an ingenious way to make it go faster. One year it was the potato ricer, which is a must have when it comes to making apple sauce. The next year it was the apple peeler, corer, slicer, this little invention was a HUGE time saver. Then this year we discovered how much faster it would go if only one of us brought a food processor to chop up the apples.

It takes 24 medium apples to yield 6 pints of apple sauce. We start out by sterilizing all our jars. Bring a very large pot to boiling and place all your jars and lids into the boiling water and leave them there for 10 minutes. Once completed, remove them and place them on clean towels to dry. Once all your jars are sterilized its time to make the applesauce!!

Once we washed all the apples we were ready to place them on the apple peeler, corer, slicer machine. Little L worked so hard and pretty much peeled, cored and sliced every single apple with this wonderful contraption!! Seriously, hardly any work involved!!!

This is what the apples look like when the come off the apple peeler, corer, slicer machine.

Once you have all your apples sliced they are ready to go into the pot. Do we have enough apples!! I have to admit next year we need a bigger pot!! But this one did the job! You place all your apples, 2 cups of water and 10 inches of stick cinnamon into the pot. Bring it to a boil while mashing it down (I use a potato masher). Once it comes to a boil reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring often. While it is simmering the apples become really soft and much easier to mash down. So while it simmers continue to mash it down with your potato masher.


After 25 minutes, remove the pot from the heat, remove the cinnamon sticks and little by little press the apples through the potato ricer or a food mill or sieve. Return the pulp to the pot and stir in 1 1/4 cups of sugar (add more to taste). If necessary, add an additional 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water to reach desired consistency. (I have never had to add more water so I always skip this step). Ladle the applesauce into your sterilized jars. Place lids on top of jars and process in large pot of boiling water for 15 minutes. Remove from pot and viola! Listen for the sealing of your jars by the popping sound! It is by far the best applesauce I have ever eaten!

APPLESAUCE

*24 medium golden delicious apples, cored and quartered

*2 cups of water

*10 inches stick cinnamon

*1 1/4 cups of sugar