Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from snowy Edwardsville! Our first ever white Christmas!

So far:
• Cirque Dreams Holidaze at the Fabulous Fox Theater (amazing!!)
• Food
• Just Dance on the Wii (best game ever!!)
• Minute-to-win-it
• Playing in the snow
• Christmas Eve breakfast
• Gift Exchange--"Dad Style"
• Movies
• Christmas story (as told on cassette, from 1992)
• More food
• Christmas morning presents
• Raccoons getting into the "fridge" outside (a red cooler, but because it's so cold outside, we just keep food out there :)
• Loving the decorated house & just being home.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Giveaway + How To + Get Well Soon!

First, a little "get-well-soon-shoutout" to my seester, Katie. She had surgery today and is having to take it easy for a few days (hopefully just a few days!)...Katie can share the details! :) I was hoping that I'd have lots of blog content (funny stories from the operating room), but unfortunately it was a pretty uneventful day. She does claim that the male nurses were hitting on her...I'll let her tell that one! :)

Second, I think it's safe to show off my "ornament" for the Freshly Blended ornament swap that I participated in, along with a how-to! I kind of, might of, ok...I didn't make an ornament. I made a paper garland instead, but I felt it was ok! These garlands are super easy and fun to make, and they're fun to use for holiday decor.

What you'll need: a circle punch, paper, and a sewing machine. I love my circle punch from Fiskars...easy on the hands and you can see right where you're punching. Punch out a bunch of circles...I used scrapbook paper, and can get about 110ish 1" circles out of a 12x12 piece of paper. When all your circles are punched, you're ready to sew! Feed your circles through the sewing machine, just like you would with fabric. Make your garland as long or as short as you like! Easy. For directions with pictures, here's a post over on Armelle Jewelry's blog, with some fun pictures of her garlands in use!

Third, because the garlands are so easy-peasy to make and because I had lots of left over paper that needed to be fashioned into a garland, I decided to make another garland for a giveaway! This garland is probably about 15 or so feet in length, so plenty of garland to use as a last minute Christmas decoration somewhere in your home. Cute Christmas colors: red + green + gold...you can't go wrong with that combo! Simply leave a comment, and I'll draw a winner on Thursday evening.

Lastly, I hope you're enjoying the holiday season. I don't know that I'm totally there yet, but I'd better start enjoying the season soon--Christmas is NEXT week! Yikes. So much to do, so little time. I love this time of year; I love the kindness and thoughtfulness of everyone that you run into--friends and strangers alike. I love Christmas!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Coming Soon...

...a giveaway!

I've been busy making my "ornaments"* for the gift exchange that I'm participating in, and have a couple extras. I'm shooting for Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed!

*ornaments is in quotes for a reason...it'll make more sense when you see it/them :)

Just a thought

Saw this thought as I was browsing a new favorite blog of mine: joy ever after. It's located down at the bottom of the page, just below where you click to go to the next page. I've never heard this quote, but I've fallen in love with it! I've always loved so many different things, and now I can justify loving a ton of different things! (This is also probably the thing that frustrates my mom the most about me--ok, so I frustrate my mom a lot (!)--but she's always trying to figure out/pin down my "style" (ie: things I like/dislike), and I always just say, "I'll know if I like it when I see it!" :)



(ps: mom has awesome taste--especially when it comes to antiques! :)

image source.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Up There

Fascinating.

UP THERE from The Ritual Project.

Take a few minutes to watch. Hand-painted murals are such a work of art! I was in Salt Lake last night, and there are remnants of murals around, but you have to really pay attention to find them--and look up! Enjoy.

via Rifle Paper Co Blog.