Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas From My Family to Yours!

The van is all packed, and we are leaving this morning to spend the week with my family. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and may we all remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas. I'll leave you with the memory verse that our 3 and 4 year olds at church have been learning this month:

“God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son.” John 3:16, GNT

Shopping in an Etsy Wonderland!

I've been shopping on Etsy for Christmas presents/stocking stuffers, and thought I'd share the good stuff I've found. Note that none of my immediate family is aware of my blog - mainly because I wouldn't be able to post things like this if they were! (Second note: if you are a member of my immediate family that has found this blog and not told me, STOP reading this now so no Christmas surprises are spoiled!)

For my Mother-in-Law, I bought this great purse from artsy-crafty babe:


For my Father-in-Law, The Artistic Side of Life drew a wonderful 8x10 characature of him and my Mother-in-Law. It turned out great, and I think he will love it!

For my Mom and Dad's cats, and my Brother and his wife's dog, I found the following:
- A catnip kickin stick from HannaPt.
- An oh-so-cute organic catnip toy from Howard's Home
- Some VERY good smelling dog shampoo from GoodCleanDog
- And, some kitty poops from Dog Dreams Baking Company (these were just too hillarious for me to pass up!).

For my Mom and Sister-in-Law's stockings, Creations by Chara made these great bookmarks. She can customize them with the message of your choice, and you get to pick out the color of beads you want.


Also for my Mom's stocking, I got this mauve flower brooch made from a recycled t-shirt from There is Beauty All Around. I was SOOOO tempted to keep this for myself when it came. I am definately putting one on my birthday wish list!


I got two pictures made into beautiful magnets from Back Glass Images - one of my brother's dog for my brother's stocking, and another of my family with my husband's grandmother as a stocking stuffer for his Mom and Dad. I liked the family magnet so much, that I had to order one for myself too, and now it is proudly displayed on our refrigerator. My daughter has been going up to it pointing everyone out - "Mommy", "Daddy", "Me", etc...

From Baubles and Bows, I got these cute ponytail holders for my Sister-in-Law's stocking:


For my Dad's stocking, I got a handmade fishing lure from WilMak Outdoors.

I have ordered some cute no-slip hair clips for my daughter from EverydayClippies. We are in desparate need of hair clippies around here that won't slip out of her fine hair - I can't wait to get them!

I am VERY excited about this next item. My daughter is getting a Bitty Baby for Christmas from my Brother and Sister-in-Law, so I wanted to get her a doll cradle for her birthday in January. She loves babies and likes to wrap them up and take care of them, so I thought this would be a perfect gift for her. I looked around at retailers, and was disappointed in the quality of doll cradles and the prices for them. I am so glad I found Bits of Sunshine, where I was able to order this beautiful cradle:


This is not only beautiful, but something my daughter will have for a long time and hopefully be able to pass along to her daughter, if she has one, one day. **EDITED TO ADD - Elizabeth with Bits of Sunshine has generously offered a free gift for anyone buying from her shop that mentions they were referred by this blog. A free doll blanket with cradle purchase, or another special gift with the purchase of anything else from the shop. I think the Ends and Pieces would also be a great gift for a child!**

And finally, I found the PERFECT family for my daughter's new fabric dollhouse that she will get for Christmas: Naked Peggies! I ordered a set of peggies that I can paint to look like a Mommy, Daddy, Brother, Sister, Baby, Doggie and Cat (we don't have a cat, buy my daughter loves cats). I can't wait to get them so I can get them painted and in their new home in time for Christmas!

Whew! Well there is my list of items I've purchased from Etsy for Christmas. I am really excited about all the great things I was able to get, and I really think they recipients are going to like them!

A Project for the Boys and My Culinary Triumph

I found a recipe yesterday for Cheesy Potato Soup that looked really good and much easier than the potato soup recipe I currently use. The thing that really appealed to me, though, was the bread bowl. So, I searched until I found a bread bowl recipe that I thought I could handle without major catastrophe.

While surfing, I also found a recipe for holiday potpourri that looked wonderful. I actually had all of the ingredients for it, except allspice berries, so I put a batch together and got it simmering on the stove. What a delicious, wonderful smell it gives the house! I decided that, like Little Birdie Secrets suggests, putting together potpourri packets would be a great gift idea.

I also found one final project on Little Birdie Secrets that I wanted to work on - peppermint marshmallows.

This morning I started working on the bread bowls. While that project was ongoing, my husband and my son went to work putting together two potpourri packets for two of our neighbors. First, my son put all the ingredients together on a square of cellophane:


Then, it was time for a trip to the back yard to cut some evergreen sprigs:


And once that was done, the ribbons and gift tags were attached to complete the packages:


I think they did a great job, and they both had fun too! They will make two more packets later this week for two more special people who will remain unnamed in case they are reading this post!

While the guys worked on their project and delivered the finished products, I worked on the soup bowls and soup. Around twelve o'clock everything was done and it was time to try the soup. I freely admit that I am not a good cook, but today I had a rare culinary triumph. The soup and the bread bowls were just about the best things I have eaten in a long time, and I am thrilled that they came out so good. [Note: I made two changes to the bread bowl recipe based on the recipe reviews I read : 1) I mixed 1 tsp of sugar into the warm water yeast mixture; 2) I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil] I was so pleased with my results, that I took a picture of my little creation for all to see:



I decided that I won't push my luck and try for two culinary successes in one day, so the peppermint marshmallows will wait until tomorrow. Wish me luck!

A Little Blue Bird

So, I was reading Erika's blog (where I won Holly, by the way - HOORAH - Holly is gorgeous and very happy here in her new home!!), and really liked the little birds she was making. I followed the link she provided and absolutely fell in love with this bird mobile!

Last night I cut out a bird using the free pattern provided by Spool, and this morning I sewed him up. I added some wings because I saw one in the Spool Bird Softies Flickr Group with wings and really liked how it looked. Here is how my little blue birdie turned out:



Now I just need to make a whole flock of birds and put a mobile together. The bird I made today won't be a part of the mobile, though, because my son has claimed him. Says he is going to take it to bed with him tonight. He has been carrying it around all day. Like I always say - he is my biggest fan!

A Completed Christmas Gift

I used this fabric dollhouse tutorial from UK Lass in US, and came up with this for my daughter:







My husband gets credit as Design Consultant on this project. I bought the farm fabric and picked out the ribbon trim, but he picked out all the other fabric and decided how it should be used.

Now I need some little furniture and some little people or animals to put in the house. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea about how to make something like that, nor do I know where to buy some. I guess I need to do some Google searches.

Not Matched, But Cute Just the Same

Do you remember the pre-cut fabric panel I bought for fifty-cents at a yard sale back in September?



Well, I took the time to sew it together recently, and my daughter wore the completed jumper to church on Sunday. She was very happy with the reindeer pocket on the front, and spent so much time putting her hand in it that I worried she would pull it off.



Please note that my daughter does have a new pair of red velvet shoes that would have matched this outfit really well, and in fact she wore those shoes around the house all day Saturday. On Sunday morning, however, she would have no part of them and insisted on her pink Robeez that do not match the jumper at all. To keep with the mismatched theme, she chose to accessorize with a purple and lime green purse!

An Exercise in Self Control

My Mom and Dad are getting me a subscription to Ottobre as a Christmas present, and look what was in my mailbox this afternoon:



When I got it in the house I immediately called my Mom so she could tell me what I knew she would "put it away and bring it with you at Christmas so I can wrap it up". I needed to hear her say it in order to give me the extra boost of will power I needed to keep myself from tearing open the envelope and spending the evening with my new magazine.

And, no, I did not tear the bottom of the envelope - it was that way when I got it out of the mailbox - honest!

By the way - the stack of books being used as a magazine stand in the picture are books I ordered for my Mom from Betterworldbooks.com - if you have a reader on your Christmas list this year you should check the site out - they had great prices on the books my Mom wanted (used) and shipping was free!

Christmas Album Download - $0.99

Thought I would share this nice find. Amazon has the The Muppets: A Green and Red Christmas MP3 album available for download for $0.99!

Not sure how long this price will last.

I Love Free Stuff!

"Hopefully Something Rhetorical" is having her first giveaway here. Isn't that tree adorable?

And how about "Jetta and Ella's Mama" super cute bird?

I would really like one of the camera straps found here. Magical Forest is my favorite - HINT HINT to anyone reading that might be wondering what to get me for Christmas.

I think the wristlets found here are such a great idea!

My daughter would be so cute using the baby doll sling found here.

And don't forget to check Sew, Mama, Sew Give-Away Day list of all the blogs having fun give-aways today - so fun!