Merry Christmas

12.27.2010
It's a little late, but here's to a wonderful Christmas and wishing you all a Happy New Year as well........Cheers!

tags & bags

12.17.2010
Want a fun gift wrapping idea? Burlap. It's super cheap (like $3/yd at JoAnn's) and I love the rough texture.
The gift tags I made by cutting out several small pieces of fabric about 2 x 3 1/2 inches. I sewed small bits & pieces of lace or ribbon onto the tags. The strawberry one is my fave. I hot glued ric rac around the edges of the wrong side. Then I decided it needed something more. I found a little strawberry that had fallen off of a pincushion and I hot glued it to the corner. These would be cute with buttons, velvet ribbon, bakers twine and other random stuff you find around the house. And if you don't sew, everything can be hot glued on.

I had some extra fabric, so I decided to make a gift bag. I tied the tag on with one of the fibers that I yanked off of the burlap.

If you're wondering how to get the tag on, just take the tip of a sharp pencil (or a needle) and shove it into one of the holes in the burlap. This will widen it so you can insert your string.

Oh....and the whole to and from thing - I printed onto paper and cut into strips. I then took one of the small strips and fastened it to the back of the tag. For all you scrapbookers out there who have a bajillion stamps.....it would be fun to see these stamped with the small individual letters. That was my original plan, except I was too cheap to buy the rubber stamp set. ;)
Wishing you all a fun, Christmas light filled, hot cocoa drinking, snow angel making, gingerbread baking kind of weekend!!! ♥

cookies & milk

12.15.2010
Every year our family looks forward to the Holidays and the different traditions that go along with it. Leaving cookies and milk for Santa is a must. Now that the boys are getting older they've started thinking about the reindeer too. So in addition to leaving a bowl of carrots for them, we have started the tradition of reindeer food as well. It was a hit last year and we will definately be doing it again this year.
If you would like to make your own reindeer food, simply fill a ziplock baggie with oats (& gold glitter if you want to go all out). Print these toppers, cut, then staple to the top of your baggies. Have the kids sprinkle the "reindeer food" on the front lawn before bed. You can also make reindeer track marks on the tops of your cars, in the front yard...for a finishing touch to be found the next morning. Such a fun idea....but I'm always looking for more. What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

hey there

12.07.2010
Delilah. The newest collection of fabric by Tanya. These are only a handful from the collection. Can you tell the pink and red colorways are my faves? I can't wait to get my hands on some of this. Can you just see Delilah being made into sweet ruffle pants, vintage looking pillows, buntings, aprons and more? Love!

monday

12.06.2010
What started out to be this kind of day.......you know the one where it's overcast, everything goes your way, the kids get home from school just as you are pulling the pumpkin bread out of the oven. You ice it and make hot cocoa to go with it, turn on the tree lights, cue up the holiday music. Well, today was not that day. That day was called Friday.

Today is the day where I am finally trying to get some blogging done, crafting done...etc. and all I can hear during naptime is MAMA...MAMA.........MAMA! This I am actually used to. Trying to get Lola to nap these days has proven quite tricky. So I let her talk/whine it out for a while and go in to check on her a few times, and then finally commit the mama no-no...I gave her a bottle of milk. (I know, I know all about bottle rot. The 4th child is the only one we have done this with. And we make sure to take it away after she falls asleep and we usually brush her teeth after.) Well, today I went through all the usual steps of getting her to sleep (check on her, check on her, give bottle, wait, take it away, wait) and finally, after a prolonged period of this whining I went in to check on her. By the way, my definition of whining- making any one syllable word into two. With Mo-om being the top contender.

When I walk in, she is standing up saying "I poop"! (I'll spare you the pictorial) Diaper is off and planted dirty side down onto her pillow and it looks as if this pint size Picasso has fingerpainted the crib, bedding, clothes....etc. So I take the soiled clothes off and run her to the tub. I start the bathwater and say "hold on" to the side of the tub while I get the wipes. I am gone only a few seconds and upon my return, I hear a soft little voice say "oh no" as I look down to see her riverdancing in a puddle of urine. I clean her up and the floor up and get her settled in to her bubble bath and against my better judgement utter the words "I'll be right back" as I dash down the hall to her room to grab the soiled items and throw them in the wash. Poke my head in the door to check on Lola again. She smiles and says "hi". I start the laundry then return for operation: clean up baby. As I'm going to pour the shampoo/bodywash into my hand nothing comes out but some water which someone has tried replacing the real deal with. "What happened to the shampoo?" I ask. This cute little munchkin face looks up at me with a great big smile and says as she points "Down there". Lovely.