A New Year Already???

Hi! Just popping in a minute to wish you a very Happy New Year!

I have been a little MIA, mainly because I have been here:





So much fun! More about that later...


For now, I hope 2008 has been fabulous for you. It's had its ups and downs for me. More good than not. I turned 30 and I am looking forward to the decade ahead. There has also been plenty of learning along the way...

I still cannot believe it's coming to an end already! 2008...you'v been good to me! Now, here's to 2009! I will be back then with more to chat about.

Until then, here's to the New Year and all it's possibilities.....

The Cookie (Flop) Exchange

For some reason I have lost my baking abilities. Not sure how, or why or where they went to, but they're gone. Maybe it's the pressure of the cookie exchange party. I don't know. I do know that two years in a row now, this is what happens the first batch or two....or three...

Here is example one:



Snickerdoodles gone terribly wrong


And here is example two:



Butter Cookies gone smooshed and *slimy*

You see? At least this year was better than last year. Last year, the first three batches of snickerdoodles were, well, just like the first picture above. I had to completely re-do the whole thing and start over. It. took. forever. I was supposed to show up to the "cookie exchange" by 7pm. That's when it started. I finally arrived there at 7:30, being that I had pulled the last batch out right at 7. Yeah, fun.

This year, the first batch looked like the picture above with the smooshed stars. At least I quickly realized I had forgotten to add the rest of the flour and it was quickly remedied. Although, my son saw them in the oven and said, "mom? they look kinda slimy!". Gee, thanks kiddo. I assured him it was just the butter melting all over the cookie sheet because I forgot the rest of the flour. The *slimy-ness* apparently didn't deter him from eating the smooshed and ultra buttery stars, since I caught him snitching a few "to taste test".

I am not sure why I put myself through this. I'm not even a major cookie person. Why do I go to cookie exchanges? I have no answer, other than that I enjoy the good company. And, there are some seriously good cookies that even I, the not so much on cookies person, does enjoy. And I even get the recipe for it! Although I have yet to make cookies from the recipes, but I sure do have some good ones when the occasion ever arises!


Anyone else have this kinda trouble with cookies? Or any other type of baking/cooking disaster that's happened to them this time of year?

Fish Need Trees Too

Apparently our new Beta Fish needed some trees too. Or so my son thinks.



We took some tinsel pipe cleaners and wrapped them around our fingers and, viola! Little tiny tinsel trees!

Do they make ornaments for such small trees? I'm not sure I am inclined to make some that small...

Advent Calender

A little project I am (still) working on. It's still able to be used, but my son has let me know with certainty that "mom, you haven't even finished sewing the numbers on! They can only go to FOURTEEN!"





Have no fear child, it will be done. Even if it's the number of the day I am sewing....it will be finished by the time they reach the stable.

Thanksgiving

I did it. I conquered the turkey! I had never done a turkey before until this year. Not by myself anyway! But this year I did. We hosted Thanksgiving and it was wonderful.



We also made some fun little crafts I saw over HERE with the kiddos. We chose to make them completely out of felt.





This is one my niece did....completely by herself! She is really getting into the crafty thing and wants her Auntie Jaime to teach her more. I cannot tell you the warm fabulousness that gives me! Just a year ago she was content to watch. Now, she's asking to use the needle and thread on her own and I have to say, not too terrible for her first go at it.She loves anything to do with art and creating, so I am happy to encourage her! She says she wants a little sewing kit all her own so she can come for visits and make stuff with me. You betcha Mely!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy the quiet moments before the holiday rush....

Embroidery Hoopla!

There once was a very sad wall (that for the life of me I could not get a decent picture of being how the lighting was). It was blank and lonely.



It desperately needed something....poor, lonely wall above my bed. We recently repainted the master bedroom with a calm blue. We added some chocolate brown curtains and it all worked well together. However, what to do with that wall about drove me nuts!
Our beds headboard is lacking a little. Just straight and nondescript, really. I saw this one print of tulips at IKEA that seemed perfect, but I was afraid our room would look more like something out of their catalogue. Not that that's too terrible a thing, I just wanted something a little more personalized-ish. More us. More me?



I remembered seeing a fun idea here a while back, so I thought I'd give it a try.



I also had some fabric that I bought like four or more years ago ( wow!) that I had intended for another project that never came to fruition, so it sat in my stash waiting.....



Waiting for me to stop arranging the embroidery hoops I picked up at a newly opened Hobby Lobby just down the way from me. How convenient!



Then, Tada!



Another view. For the life of me, I could not get the pictures to take quite like the light in the room looked. I had to brighten them up a bit, but still does not do it justice. You can also see how blah our headboard is in this pic. However, now the wall is no longer lonely.



I only had the two prints to work with. I got five hoops and nothing else in my stash really worked well for the fifth hoop, so I took some natural linen I had and embroidered it with our initials. I know, so cheesy, but it works. And, I'm sappy like that. But it adds just the personal touch I was going for and it blends together just nice.

The embroidery hoops worked out well for this. Although, I have to say I would not have wanted to use them for actual embroidery. They were pretty rough and splintery. Good for this type of project though. And they were inexpensive enough to not break the bank dressing up a wall.

I think what I like best about this, is that I can change it out if I were to ever want to. For now though I will just enjoy the no longer lonely wall, with pretty fabrics now artfully displayed in embroidery hoops....

Some Patchwork Fun

Boys. I love my son very much, but he sure can be hard on his clothes...especially pants!



See what I mean? Poor pants, they only made it one wear before this happened.



I was trying to think of something simple, but still fun that would work to patch these puppies up. I had some green corduroy hanging around begging to be used, that just do happened to already have some heavy duty iron on adhesive attached. So, I used it! I cut it into a star shape. Practical but still fun and still cool enough for a five year old to wear to school. Very important.



Tada! All patched up. However, being that it was a clear, round hole, I decided to cut another star out of some striped cotton I have. I placed that on the underside of where the corduroy star on the outside was placed. That way, they would fuse nicely without any sticky-ness happening and causing me to iron the first star to the backside of the leg. That would be no fun.



Here's a look at the inside of the pants leg. There was another tear just beginning, so I decided to try and head it off with another cotton I had with some fusible. Just ironed it on the underside there to hopefully keep the other hole from getting too far....yeah, good luck with that one! I'm sure it will need a star of it's own soon...