Merry Christmas

A glimpse of our home.


Space age Christmas tree.



A tree full of pickles.



The traditional tree.



Honey & Pine nut tart.



Fresh baguettes.

Much love from our home to yours this Holiday Season.

-- Post From My iPhone

Advent Calendar

My big project for Christmas this year was to make an advent calendar for the Cookie & Kiss.













Thankfully those two still live in the present moment because it took me eight days to sew rather than the two days I gave myself.



















After looking at several different patterns for inspiration I thought I knew what I wanted to do. There are pros and cons to working without a pattern. One advantage was the freedom to do anything I wanted, but the flip side was that it took longer as I made design choices along the way.













Originally I thought I would do the numbers in small buttons, but that would have distorted the pockets and added bulk. The buttons were tossed in favor of appliqued numbers. The pockets are roughly 5x5 squares. The dimensions came to 33" x 41". It was big, but with two kiddos the pockets had accommodate two of everything.

Two years ago, I made the kids their stockings. Luckily I had lots of bias tape from the project that I used to trim the calendar.













Cookie and Kiss love their calendar and were more interested in filling the pockets than emptying them. Kiss claimed number 3 because it had the star on it.













Christmas is two days away. Our tree has yet to be trimmed, but it is beautiful in its natural state. We bought a big one this year. For the most part the presents have been bought and wrapped. Today there will be grocery shopping and last minute runs, dressing the naked Christmas tree, and cleaning up after days and days of rain.



















Are you ready for Santa?

Good Day Today

This gave me a good chuckle this morning. I love a good laugh in the morning and I believe it is a sign of a good day ahead. So I am sharing this silly little video in the hopes you have a little laugh and your day is lighter and brighter for it.



Did I detect a few Bah humbugs out there? Naw, I think it was my cat trying to sing along.
Carry on.

String Trees

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.



Crochet Today has been putting out the cutest patterns and this tree garland was no exception. The sock yarn was Heart & Sole by Red Heart in Christmas and Razzle Dazzle. Razzle Dazzle is the best name.





There is enough yarn to make one another one. This one was made for Cookie and Kiss. It's for one of the pockets on their Advent Calendar. The calendar was finished this morning and sent out for overnight delivery, so they will get it tomorrow. YAY! All this making of special things has put in me in the Holiday Spirit. Has the spirit caught up with you yet?

These fabulous photos were taken by my good friend, Ellen. I think I have to enlist Ellen to photograph all my makings. She has a great eye and makes my trees look tres, tres jolie. Thanks, Ellen.

What are you making for the holidays?

The count down begins

The last three days I have been in a mad jam session with my sewing machine. The Christmas season is here and I am slightly behind in my tasks, but having a blast nonetheless.

Right now the madness centers on an advent calendar. Yep, it's the first day in the count down to Christmas. Told ya this elf was a little behind.

Funny how one minute it's Turkey time and the next it's Christmas. Time moves fast. We had an amazing weekend with fantastic food and spending time with family and friends. I hope you all had a turkey-riffic Thanksgiving.



-- Post From My iPhone

Punkinheads

Every year for the annual Stitch N Witch Party I try to come up with a unique handmade item for the prize bags. This year I was inspired by a new magazine, Prims, which is dedicated to primitive and folk art inspired dolls.





















The Punkinheads were born.



To make these adorable fellows I drew out a pattern in a gingerbread man kind of way, except with a pumpkin head. After cutting out and stuffing the muslin, they were grunged and put in the oven at a low temp to dry. The grunge mixture was instant coffee, cinnamon, and vanilla. Then I watered down acrylic paint with the grunge mix and painted up the punkinheads. They were popped back in the oven to dry. Once they were dried I took a nail file and sanded them for a more worn look. The fun part was giving them personality out of vintage buttons, snaps, embroidery thread, and grunged up gingham.













They turned out pretty darn cute and were lots of fun to make. Yes, Halloween was a couple weeks ago and Thanksgiving menu planning is in full effect, but I had to share.

My Hero

Meet Alice Herz-Sommer. She is an amazing woman and I want to be just like her.



She is a reminder to love love love.

Happy Halloween

These three Skellybones went out in the mail to haunt houses in Texas and Minnesota.

Here's hoping your candy bags are full and the monsters don't find their way under the bed tonight.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Here are the links for the sock skeletons & blue fuzzy monster who likes baked goods hat from the last post.

C is for Cookie

Rustle rustle
rustle rustle
sweep sweep sweep sweep
shake shake
sweep sweep
shake

Hey! Hi. You snuck up on me.

Sorry. Just clearing out the cobwebs that have accumulated in the corners of the blog during in my absence. After this year of taking care of the sick animals and some family members I just needed a little break. My energy had run very low and my exhaustion led to a very bleak and dismal outlook on life. If you don't have nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all...right?

Now I am starting to recharge my batteries. The week started with a yogi cleanse, which entails kundalini yoga, fresh juices, Chinese herbs and a vegan diet. The cleanse ends on Monday, but my energy has been so much better that I might stay on the vegan path for a little longer. This week has also been all about crafting and getting ready for Halloween.

Last night was our annual Stitch n Witch Halloween party. This year's theme was animal spirit. My animal spirit is Cookie Monster...a real sugar fiend, if you know what I mean, and my worst enemy, which I indulged at every turn since July. It didn't really help my outlook, only momentarily. Yeah, the quick fix and indulgence of sugar sunshine. It didn't leave me very happy for long...just a sugar high and the inevitable crash.


















Funny thing is I am currently not eating sugar, so felt chocolate chip cookies are my choice. No sugar and full of fiber! num num num num! Me like cookies!

Glad you stopped by. I have really missed you. Hope to see you again real soon.

083010: bird of a petal

Today I hiked through Runyon Cyn. It was gorgeous! And penance for dessert yesterday. The bird of paradise is a flame in my backyard. Happy Day!

-- Post From My iPhone

082910: Richandthickandchocolate

Chocolate Malt Cake - Bon Appétit September 2010





No one in their right mind should be eating this cake! Everyone loved it at our family dinner tonight.

-- Post From My iPhone

082810: Baking

-- Post From My iPhone

081810: super duper

Everyday is super!
Keep smiling. Keep making. Whistling a happy tune and brewing up some berry hibiscus ice tea.

Photo is from my new shakeitphoto app. Cool beans.

-- Post From My iPhone

081510: His & Hers

Herringbone Scarf - His Birthday present


Covalence Scarf - enough yarn left over for me!

Hand Dyed Chunky Yarn
70% Merino/20% Alpaca/ 10% Silk
from Twist Fibre Craft Studio
in Newburgh, Scotland

081410: A Taste of Summer

Bleu cheese, bacon burger grilled in the backyard. Dining a fresco. Music playing. Sun setting on a Saturday night.

081110: Stitch

My nephew got a new puppy. His name is Stitch.





He has that puppy smell and is very, very cute.

-- Post From My iPhone

080810: Sunday Dinner

Ratatouille









-- Post From My iPhone

080710: sunning

Annenberg Community Beach House







-- Post From My iPhone

080610: hello sunshine

Today I met Owen. He is a snuggle bug and fit perfectly in my arms. Melina and I had a great visit. We took a walk around the neighborhood.




We grabbed some lunch at the Busy Bee and ate in the park. It was pretty much a perfect day.


-- Post From My iPhone

080510: Stencils are fun

Tomorrow I have the pleasure of meeting Owen Douglas. He was born on May 27...a wee bit early...to my friends Melina & Clive. This gave me the chance to try out my stencils for a super quick project this morning. Super duper cute stuff.

080410: over my shoulder

Sits a cat










-- Post From My iPhone

080310: for my Hubby

Happy Birthday!
Sending my LOVE around the world and back again...hugs & kisses too!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox