Chomp, Chomp....

Oh, hey there!

What's that you say?? ....Don't talk with your mouth full??? Oh, Sorry.....that is what happens when you have bitten off WAY more than you can chew!!

I don't know what is wrong with me, but I am trying to do it all again!
what happened to my "slothing into 2010..."???? I have a very full schedule this week and yet I have two VERY special birthdays next week, one of which requires (only by my requirement) that I craft like a crazy person...

Before Monday I am trying to make a custom outfit, a Birthday banner, party hats, table decorations and the most perfect invitations for the most adorable "already" 4 yr old. Luckily she only wants two little girls to come over but still...

She really isn't "already" four but one day about 3 weeks ago while i was getting ready for work she came into the bathroom and told me that she was "...tired of being 3 1/2" and wanted to be "this many...(holding up 4 fingers)"

I explained that she was going to be four in just a few short weeks, but she said she wanted to be four now. I said OK and wished her a Happy Birthday. From that moment forward she has been telling everyone that she is already four!

I have asked her several times since what type of party she would like to have for her birthday and she keeps telling me that she doesn't need a party, she is ..."already four...remember we had a bathroom birthday!" and then gives me the look like GEEZ MOM....

Another one for the books....


And, the other birthday is for the most amazing 11 yr old - soon to be 12 yr old who said he only wants to have 3 friends over, eat pizza and watch movies. He also said I could give him an IOU because he knows that the gift he wants is a little out of price range this week. Great Kid....like no other! THANK YOU! Love you Jacob!!
PS: I am thinking of changing my blog name because it is a little difficult to find me if you are not exact with your typing....and that is just not fun!

Crunch Time

3 Days until Christmas and it is crunch time around here! I am dedicating this whole day to "making stuff"...

Procrastination is my nemesis

I will be crafting until my fingers bleed which really wont be hard because they are so dry...lol.

I have knit 4 hats so far, and put lots of thought into the other gifts I will be giving.

I have also decided that if it can't be purchased at the local hardware store, liquor store or my store...your not getting it for Christmas at this point!

I braved the mall twice this year...that is two times more than I went in the past year and a half! I will NOT be going anywhere near that place again!

I will go to the bookstore...but none of those other place again! I went to Target last night...it was literally swarming with people who had a complete look of desperation in their eyes. It was crazy!!

OK..off to the craft room! I will take some pictures when I am done....hopefully.

Under way...

Christmas shopping, decorating and activities are well under way!
I love to see my house decorated for Christmas...soft white lights, greens and sparkly lovely things to look at!

We decorated our tree on Sunday night and had delicious Chinese food...I think a new tradition has been formed...and I was so excited about getting our tree done that I couldn't stop! I told my husband that I "NEEDED" to put up two more of our trees!! He gladly obliged and went to the garage to start the process....I am a theme girl. I love having different trees in different rooms. We have 5 at our shop and I was really feeling festive...I blame it on the MSG.

....by morning I had changed my mind and decided that ONE tree was just perfect this year!

Simple is ALWAYS nice!

I hope that your holidays are shaping up to be exactly what you want them to be!!

Speaking of "shaping up"! I have completed 3 hats so far! Not quite getting as much done as I had hoped for my handmade holiday, but I can still buy handmade!!!

Buying Handmade...

I have been searching Etsy for the past several days-nights-wee hours of the morning...I love Etsy..but there is so much to chose from that I am having a hard time making decisions.

So far; Artwork, yarn, pottery are all in my sights. I just NEED to make some decisions!

Hope your Handmade Holidays are off to a great start!

Handmade Holidays 2009!

I am doing it again.....handmade for all. Last year went really well! A few "Elf" made gifts made their way under our tree, but for the most part it was handmade and up-cycled whenever possible.

I am pushing myself one step further this year. I am going to "attempt" to use what I already have on hand to make these gifts. I honestly have WAY too much in my craft room and am 90% certain that I can accomplish my gift making/giving without having to buy anything new.

Wish me luck!

There are approximately 60 days until Christmas so I figure 5 days on each gift can earn me 12 really nice gifts! I will also be visiting Etsy and some of my favorite blogger's shops. There is so much to chose from!! The kids really got into making wish lists from Etsy. And in effort to be completely honest...I am buying each of the kids a "Snuggie" because I think they are hysterical and make a great gag gift. Gag in more ways than one.....

But they will be purchased from our local hardware store (family owned)- they carry a bit of everything - so I feel good about buying this mass produced product from one of our local stores.

Again....wish me luck!

I will keep you posted on how it is going.

A Project in Reflection

As we close out 2008 we are going to take some time together as a family to reflect on our year.... The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. We have had quite a bit of all three. We are going to start a few new traditions this year, one of which will be to make a list of our Top 10. Each person is going to write down their personal Top 10 and then we are going to put them in a family time capsule...basically our 2008 scrapbook...and then next year we can look back on it!

Mine are pretty simple:
The Good: Opening the Shop
The Bad: The Brawn's simple procedure that turned into a medical mistake
The Unbelievable: The boys and I all breaking a bone and being in casts one week apart!

And what holiday is complete around here without a project?? So, in an attempt to have my children remember their lives, I am going to have everyone write in a journal for 10-15 minutes before reading and going to bed at night. I don't care if they write a story, a poem, the weather forecast or really pour their hearts out. The Princess will draw a picture every night. She really loves to draw and color.

I took basic composition books, covered them in Kraft paper and am going to let the kids each personalize them tomorrow.

I will show you pictures of everyone when they are done.

I also picked up some foam hats the other day at Michael's that were left over from their Christmas stuff, I think they were supposed to be Elf hats but we are going to make them our New Years hats. We are a little late on decorating them...hopefully they will be dry!

Then we will pick out our outfits for our traditional New Year's Eve dinner. We stay in on N.Y.E and get dressed our finest threads, set the table super fancy and then eat a totally fun, non fancy dinner. Something like Tacos or Pizza....I am thinking Chinese this year. I have some awesome Chinese decorations I have been hanging on to. The kids and I will stay up and watch the ball drop while the hubby sleeps! He normally has to work on New Year's Eve and Day so he doesn't hang long with us. As with all our family dinners, I am sure that there will be many photo ops!

Wishing your family a Wonderful, SAFE and Healthy New Year!!

Love, Heather

Post Holiday Post..kinda long....

I am so happy to report a Wonderful holiday was had by all in our house!! There was a brief scare on Christmas Eve that the Princess and I would be spending Christmas in the hospital. Ironic that it is usually The Brawn and I in there together, I was soooo worried about him getting the darn stomach bug before Christmas, and who ended up getting it....The Princess!! My poor little Princess lost 4lbs, had two trips to the ER, then two trips to the Doctors, all during her 7 day bought with the stomach bug. After two hours in the Doctors on Christmas Eve, I was literally praying for one p-pee diaper and no throw up before 8 o'clock PM! The stress got to me a little and I had a meltdown that only George Bailey would be proud of and freaked out on my kids a bit.....I regretted it!! They understood.... The day was saved around 6:30 PM. Thank you! See, a Christmas Miracle comes in all forms...lol. After that we could all breath a little easier...she wasn't 100% but we knew we would be coming out of the woods very soon!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner....Cream of Crab Soup, Perogies (homemade...YUM! not by me, but by some cute little Ukrainian women who know what they are doing!) and Salad! All Delicious!

After dinner we had Cocoa, Popcorn and watched Fred Claus before bed.

Santa came....it was Grand....

As part of my "Handmade/Homemade Holiday"...I refused to buy any new wrapping paper, ribbon or tags. I used only things on hand...either new, recycled or re purposed. I was slightly shocked and scared at how much I had on hand! The kids also did the same for all of their wrapping.

Some of my supplies included:

For Inside the boxes: Newspaper, wax paper, paper bags, scrapbooking papers all shredded with my paper shredder. Shredded fabric also a great option...didn't use this one this year...maybe next!

Wrapping & Packaging:

* Lots of the same

* Chinese take-out boxes.

* Comics

* Toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls

Decorating:

* Ribbon

* Yarn Pom-Poms

* Raffia & Twine

* Old Lace...this was especially pretty with a sparkly chipboard letter and some vintage buttons strung on a piece of sheer ribbon. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it before giving it to my mom!

Wrapping is one of my favorite parts anyway so I could go on and on....! I even used a really pretty white milk glass dish that I had picked up at an antique store for Cookies to give to a friend.

This was one of my favorites...they were a set of Basketball tickets for my husband. He was completely surprised...it is a sold out game and he had no idea that I was trying to get them for him. I used the sports section, shredded some with my paper shredder, stuffed them underneath and wrapped them up inside the Sunday Sports section! The tissue paper underneath in this picture and the box I wrapped in....new, but unused as of yet. Apparently I like to save, not use.....

They exchanged their handmade gifts with each other at Christmas Dinner. That was a really special moment, to see them each give to one another truly from their heart. The Brain wrote poems for his brother and sisters, The Beauty made blankets, scarves and ditty bags for each of them, The Brawn made beaded bracelets and necklaces. We also allowed them to buy one thing for each sibling...it was sweet to see them pick something out for one another. I took them each shopping individually for those, so they even got some one on one time with Mom!!

Christmas dinner was excellent! Roast Beef, (or Beast as The Brain called it all day) Steamed Shrimp, Salad, Scalloped potatoes, Green Beans...

And for Dessert....Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Coconut...YUM!!!

Now...I said it was an uneventful Christmas day, HOWEVER....see that lovely wreath with my yummy cake??? Well, it caught ON FIRE!!!! Yes, FLAMES....FLAMES SHOOTING UP FROM THE WREATH!!! I am not kidding. The only thing that saved us from the Fire Dept. was that The Brawn saw it as we were clearing the table. CRAZY!!!! All was fine after we put it out....my vintage table cloth....not so fine!

I woke up today after having a full nights sleep - I qualify a full nights sleep as being over four hours - and had so many ideas and thoughts going through my head that I didn't even need a cup of coffee to get me going today! I can't wait to share with you some of my upcoming projects!! I hope that you had a Wonderful Holiday ~ and that your New Year's is AWESOME!!!

Hi Alert People....High Alert!!

We are under siege right now with the Stomach Flu. The Princess spent the entire night puking every 20 minutes...it was horrible!!! The hubby and The Beauty have already had it this week and seem to have some lingering stomach cramps from it. Of course we need to have this happening 6 days before Christmas!!! I knew it was coming yesterday because at the shop she kept having these weird little burps and saying her tummy hurt. Every time I picked her up I was thinking...Please don't throw up on me...I don't want to be thrown up on....
Last night I was bent on getting my mantle done and my Nativity scene up....I got it done and then within the last second of placing the last sheep in the manger....Thar she blows.......

DISGUSTING.....

Man, I was thankful and regretting my wood floors at the same time! My poor husband walked in from basketball practice with the Brawn and I was standing in my panties and a tank top. He was a little confused!!

If The Brawn gets it we are all doomed. We all know the plan, but it is so frustrating to know that we could potentially be in the hospital for Christmas!! I have my papers for the ER and I pulled my tiny little bag of staples from the closet....it is like having your bags packed for having a baby!! Only not as much fun! And, honestly...I am freaking out right now about the whole situation!!!!

So, If I don't get this wrapping done - like RIGHT NOW - I am doomed!!! Even doing a simple Christmas I LOVE to do special touches on all the packages. It is another one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Some people have fond memories of baking cookies, not me...lots of cursing included in my "baking" memories. I do however love wrapping! I will give you a flashback moment....

When I was little, my grandmother who was the original Martha Stewart, wrapped EVERY present in beautiful paper with real ribbon bows and beautiful name tags! Each and every one was a present in itself. None of this gift bag stuff!! I always had the job of "put your finger right there..." I am surprised that I even have a finger left...lol.

So today I spent some part of the day making little pom-poms for some presents. It wasn't quite as successful as I thought! Who knew that pom-poms could be so difficult!!! Maybe it was the four little helpers I had?? I had this cute little idea of Kraft paper with red yarn pom-poms hanging from it....

Tree's, Tree's more Tree's

"You call that a Christmas Tree??? "

A few days ago I was looking through old pictures..still working on the "handmade" Christmas gifts....I was trying to be creative with old photos. I came across quite a few pictures that had our trees in them....and I always thought the trees we had growing up were quite "perfect". However....looking back on them they were a little bit less than perfect. In fact, in the words of The Brain..."why would anyone cut that down...that looks like a bush, not a tree!! What were you guys thinking? Where do you find a tree like that??" But, I loved them. The Bigger the better....it is one of the best parts of my childhood. Going out and getting a tree. HUGE memories associated with that!! Last night I read this post over at C jane and I started laughing so hard thinking about all of our tree stories, that I had tears running down my face!

The Christmas tree has so many memories associated with it. There is ALWAYS a "tree story" in the recall list of holiday moments/memories. I know we have had our fair share!! Growing up, we lived on a big huge farm that was COVERED in trees so we never needed a "tree lot". We would all load ourselves onto the back of my Uncles tractor flat bed and go out into the woods to look for the "perfect" Christmas tree. I have wonderful Norman Rockwell memories of such events. I am not going to lie...there were some "moments" between my uncles over what was really the perfect tree and how was "that" going to be cut down...that wouldn't make it into a Hallmark Movie! Lots of cursing ...anyway...as you can see from the following pictures my idea of "perfect" might have been askew! We always wanted a very Full tree....I believe full is just the cover word for bush! Because truly, does that look like a Christmas tree to you?? A few examples of our "perfect tree".... and you know they always look smaller out there in the woods than in the house.

My mother in front of one of said "trees", she is in red

My grandfather being swallowed by the tree while he decorates...


My mother looking a little "tired" on Christmas morning. I think she is pregnant with me in this picture.

The Beauties first Christmas. Base housing....yuck!

UPDATE: As I am writing this The Brain just walked in and said "are you really going to post that picture?? That is a shrub, not a tree...that is a shrub from the wild!!"...He is mortified!

I loved those BIG FULL Trees!! That post last night coupled with the pictures of long ago reminded me of just how much. I am going to post some of my favorite Tree memories this week. Some of them are hysterical...stay tuned! I am off to look for the picture of our "first" tree as a married couple. I will never forget that one!! My poor husband had NO idea what he was really in store for all those years ago!

Construction has begun...

On The Princesses doll house. We have been gathering our supplies, and have even gathered some supplies for the Boy House for her little cousin. I even bought him a set adorable little "boys" to go with it from this little shop.







All these little pieces that I found here are going to be turned into furniture and other household accessories.






I had done plenty of shopping around before I decided to paint and make our own furniture. Everything was "imported" and I just didn't want to deal with all of the issues that have come along with imported items recently. So I (and the crazy little voice in my head that tells me all of these ideas are fantastic!!) decided to do this. I did find this unfinished furniture at the little doll house shop in Annapolis, I snapped it up, it was the only set!!

We are trying to make (or buy handmade) as many of our gifts as possible. I have found SO MANY great things on Etsy that it is almost too easy. I would show you some of my other finds, but you never know who is reading!!!

I will show you more as I make progress....think, Pink....Green and Girly!! Would it be wrong to add sparkles to it??