Calendar Time

As we say goodbye to 2008 and hello to 2009 it is time to print ourselves a new calendar or two. Here are some links to DIY calendars from Tipnut. Happy new year!

I Had Myself a Merry Little Christmas

I am happy to report that I had a wonderful time with everyone these past few days. People seemed to like their little felt mistletoe ornaments with real fake pearl berries (I should really post a picture…) The cookies were a huge hit. I made way way too many of course. Luckily there were plenty of relatives with kids to take dozens off my hands. Grandpa figured out a way to play Trivial Pursuit so that it doesn’t seem like we were playing forever (when you land on a chip question, the other team reads all the questions on the card until you get one right or run out of questions. Brilliant!) There was video game time (Gaaaaa!!!) and of course we watched A Christmas Story in pieces a few times. This year there weren’t a lot of presents which made me personally very happy. Everyone seemed more interested in spending time laughing and loving than picking out the perfect gift. Wonderful. I hope that every Christmas can be so delightful.

Happy Holidays!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday filled with family and fun. 

C is for Cookie

This past weekend M&I made dozens and dozens of cookies. We were pretty much making cookies all day. We made press cookies, thumbprints, peanut butter chocolate chip, and last but not least oatmeal. The oatmeal cookies were not my best and I think I am going to try another recipe tonight. I replaced shortening for butter and didn’t add more flour. What a newbie mistake! I have to say that our new silpat mats made the whole process a breeze. No stuff sticking to cookie sheets and the clean up was a snap! Well clean up of the cookie sheets was a snap. The rest of the kitchen was a disaster area. We still have some icing to do tonight, along with a pecan pie, and then we are all ready to pass them off to friends and family. Thank goodness. My willpower is only so strong!!

Dancing Visions

Many of us have heard the night before Christmas but if you are like me, you didn’t really know what a sugar plum was. A plum with sugar? What’s the big deal. Why are visions dancing in children’s heads before bed? Well The mystery has been cleared up for us by Sarah of Handmade Homeschool. You can make some yourself to see why they might inspire visions with this recipe.

Mum Pattern

This Snow Mum pillow pattern by Amy Butler is fabulous, free and will be perfect in felt! I am just going to have to learn how to sew. This would make a perfect addition to my living room. Although I love it in white, I think I will have will probably try it in a color. That is just how I roll.

A Little Mac Geek Humour

Awesome

Quilted Lovelyness

It is no secret that I love color. I am drawn to bright colorful things. This quilt is right up my alley. Lots of beautiful colors and wonderful details. I love the embroidery, especially this little bird. That is one lucky baby. If only I could have a full sized version. Too bad I can’t sew at all. via

DIY Garland

This is a great tutorial for DIY garland. Be aware, this is a lot of work, but totally worth it, if you ask me. I can see doing this with last year’s Christmas cards for color and sparkle, not to mention reducing and reusing something that either gets filed away to never again see the light of day or gets recycled. Each year you could make more and more chains until eventually you have enough to decorate like the tree in the picture. I love it!

Teeny Tiny Keyboard

This keyboard is adorably tiny!! It would be perfect for our living room TV set up. When using something to replace a remote control, smaller is definitely better. It doesn’t hurt that it lights up for navigating when the lights are low. via