The Land of the Free Because of the Brave

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of DollarGeneral for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love being an American!  Several years ago, I made a little wooden sign that reads, “The Land of the FREE, because of the BRAVE”, to remind my family that the freedoms that we enjoy should never be taken for granted.
 I am grateful for the service of our military men and women.  My father served 20 years in the US Army and my husband is now in the US Air Force, so I understand the sacrifices our military make.  Being in the military means that the country is always number one and everything else comes after that.  On Veteran’s Day we have the opportunity, as a nation, to honor all those that serve and let them be first.
Dollar General has 2 ways that you and your family can celebrate our Veterans this weekend:
 -Your family can personally record and upload a video message for our troops. Dollar General will be featuring these videos on http://dollargeneral.com/milit…the Dollar General Facebook page.Facebook
-Dollar General is putting together care packages for our troops.  These packages will include toiletries and fun stuff like candy and snacks.  You can purchase one of these packages for $20 or $30 and Dollar General will take care of all the shipping charges.
Dollar General is also offering a 10% discount to all Veterans, Active Military, and their families on November 11 (no coupon is needed) to show their appreciation to the sacrifices that they have made. Dollar General's Veteran's Day General's Veteran's Day discount Dollar General's Veteran's Day discount

For all you civilians out there, use code 'VETERANSDAY' at checkout online to receive a 10% discount.Dollar General's Veteran's Day discount
Thank-you to all those that serve!  Thank-you to Dollar General for supporting our troops!
Please go make a video for our troops Facebook and take advantage of the Veterans' Day discounts. Dollar General's Veteran's Day General's Veteran's Day discount

   

Linky #14-Will Linky for Sanity

So many fun links last week!  Some of you out there are definitely going above and beyond the call of crafting duty.

Little Lucy Lu  threw the most amazing Olivia themed party-it's adorable and I am in love with the cake-it has ears!

Rae Gun Ramblings is living every women's dream -being married to a rock star.  She showed us how they made their music video (the song is really good too-it put me in a happy mood).

Sew What's Happening may just be insane-she sewed this wedding dress for Halloween.  I won't even sew one for an actual wedding. AAMMAAZING!


So now it's your turn.  Judging by the crowds at the fabric store on Saturday the holiday craft season has begun. Life can get crazy, but on most stressful days, doing something creative keeps me sane.  I can't wait to see what you've been creating.
 (remember you only need to leave your e-mail when you linky up if you'd like an e-mail reminder)

The Best I Ever Blogged: Creating Sarah

Are you ready for another all-star blog post???

Hello, Friends!  My name is Sarah and I blog at a happy little place called Creating Sarah.  I am a mother to 2 magnificent little girls and the wife to a super busy PA student.  To keep my sanity, I love to craft and create.  I am not a professional, by any means, but I have a lot of fun stumbling through different projects and enjoying my beautiful life.  I am still pretty new to the blogging world, but I think one of my favorite posts was the time I made a fleece blanket and matching pillow for my daughter.  Click the link for a tutorial!

She was so excited about her polka dot blanket and we had so much fun making it together!  Thanks, Tara, for letting me share!

If you would like to share the best thing you've ever blogged, please leave a comment or e-mail me (lilbirdz1@yahoo.com).

November Mantel

Honestly this has been my mantel for a few months-I just haven't got around to posting it.  I figured I better post it before Christmas starts. I have a crush on pumpkins-can you tell.

1.Super Saturday Pumpkins

2. Jars filled w/ pumpkins

3.3 -D Paper Pumpkins

4. Dollar Store Topiary

5.  Box I got at a flea market in Munich

6. Metal Pumpkin

7.  Garage store candle sticks top w/ twine balls

8. No sew Pumpkins

9. Big Metal thingy

10.  Huge beetle (b/c we think it's cool)

11.  Candle thingy

I'm linking up here.

Teaching Kids Gratitude

Confession:  We stink at any kind of consistant spiritual study as a family (just keeping it real).    I want to do some sort of morning devotional with the kiddos before I send them out each day into the world.

We started again Monday morning with scripture study. Honestly, it consisted mostly of me reading and them running around trying to find shoes and back-packs, but I'm calling it progress. 

I was inspired by this idea at Somewhat Simple.  She cut out activities for each day to help her kids remember to be thankful.  I thought it would be fun to focus on a different value each month as part of our morning devotional.

I used the Krylon Chalkboard paint that I won at the CSI project to upcycle this pot.

Then I made some strips that say "I am thankful for" pdf here


Each morning I'll have them fill out a strip and add it to the pot. 
We started this morning and I'm declaring it a success.

What value should we do next?

I'm linking up here.

Be Thankful Pillows

Just making a new panel each month is so much easier than sewing an entire pillow. I needed another panel pillow to replace the Spider ones.

First, I just made the panel and then cut out letters our of freezer paper on my Cricut.

Then I painted in the letters and put it on the pillow.

Here it is hanging out with the turkey pillow.  If I get around to it before December, I'm going to make a pumpkin pie pillow too (thanks for the suggestion Kelli)

 I link up to these parties.

Linky #14

Greetings Bloggy friends. Thanks for joining the party. 

Before we begin: I'm still looking for guest bloggers for my "Best Thing I Ever Blogged" series, please let me know if you'd like to participate.

Now on to the Party:

The most viewed link last week was this Angry Bird Party from The Brown Eyes Have It.  I thought the cupcakes were genius!

There were so many fun projects, these were some of my other favorites:



Spider web headband
Trash Bag Yard Ghost
Halloween Quilt (you've got to check out the details-amazing!)
Cutest Cookie Monster -EVER!

So know it's your turn.  On today's to-do list is to take down all the Halloween stuff, so I am need some ideas-Whatcha got? I can't wait to see!
(If you'd like an e-mail reminder each week about the party, please leave your e-mail when you link up)