Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

 (Clip art "Santa & Company" by Shelly Comiskey)

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I really do love my "blog friends" :)

May your holidays be warm and bright, full of all the wonderful things that make this time of year so special.

And may we always remember the reason we have cause to celebrate.

(Printable by Colette @ My Computer is My Canvas)

Favorite Things Christmas 2011 Edition

This Christmas Music:

This nail polish

(More specifically, toe nail polish.)

China Glaze: Ruby Pumps

Available at Sally Beauty Supply

I kept the Christmas decor a little simple this year, only putting out the things we absolutely LOVE.

Love this cute little stitchery that a friend made for me a few years ago:

Table Centerpiece:

(The ornaments may be from the Ornament Wreath...I'm not sayin')

This year's tree:

Gingerbread Men ornaments with Red & Chocolate Brown balls.

Turned out very pretty.

I think this area was decorated by Shane. :)

At least it was a good set up for a picture to include all the ornaments.

My fireplace:

I love my fireplace! Love the mantle, and the fire is actually really pretty and looks "real" when it burns.

Christmas Mantle:

I haven't been able to get a good picture of the mantle. It has been kind of dark...and if I use the flash there is too much glare.

I was really happy with how it turned out. I just threw it together.

Christmas earrings:

Every single pair was given to me by my mom.

There's a little bit of everything; snowmen, santas, trees, wreaths, poinsettias...

These are a few of my faves:

I love the pearl snowmen. I have 2 different pairs.

These tiles:

I made these as Christmas gifts.

I love, love, love the cute little snowmen!

(Clip art by Shelly Comiskey, "Frosty Friends"  available at Daisie Company)

Shelly is one of my favorite artists. Her designs are always adorable!

All packaged up and ready to go!

Aren't they just so cute?

I. Made. These.

I think this pretty much redeems me from my Wreath debacle, right?

My Take on the Ornament Wreath

Way back in October, Rick & the boys went on a little camping/hunting expedition.

That left me to my own devices.

Emily came over for the weekend and we decided to try our hand at making Ornament Wreaths.

I know you've seen these all over the Internet the last few years. There are lots of handy tutorials (Cherie's Tutorial) & some very lovely wreaths that have been crafted.

These are a little different though. I hope you enjoy!

First of all, you start out with a wire hanger.

You untwist the top where the hook is...blah,blah,blah (I'm getting to the good part)

Then you shape the wire into a roundish shape & begin stringing the ornaments on.

This is after, of course, you have hot glued all the tops to the ornaments so they don't pop off.

Part way through, you notice your daughter's wreath is looking pretty good.

Your wreath, however, is looking pretty...ummm...interesting.

Just forge on! It will be fine. It will look so pretty when it's done.

There's nothing glitter and a bow can't fix.

(These are the things you repeat to yourself in your head)

If the ornaments need to be repositioned a bit, very carefully move them around.

No matter how carefully you do this, you will still hear this lovely sound:

"Snap! Plop! Wobble-Wobble-Wobble!"

(That's the sound of the ornaments popping off, and then rolling across the floor)

The little cap thingies stayed firmly attached to the ornaments...hot glue kinda does that, but the hole where the hook/wire goes kept snapping open.

Once you have the ornaments all on the wire, and you have it looking like you want it (whatever),

twist the two ends of the wire together. This will be somewhat difficult. More ornaments will pop off.

Do not curse!

Just laugh. Laughing is good.

There will be glitter and broken ornaments strung everywhere.

Your daughter's wreath will look much better than yours.

The more you try to fix yours, the more you curse laugh.

Daughter will laugh too.

See...good mother/daughter bonding moment.

I'm all about creating memories.

Add a pretty red and gold ribbon, then hang it on the door so you can admire your beautiful handiwork:

What the??? 

I know, right?

I have found a couple of things that make it look better.

1.Perspective:

 See? Pretty.

2. Lighting:

Perfect!!!

The Best Laid Plans...

So...how's everyone doing?

Are you like me? Up to your eyeballs in Christmas projects & preparations?

This is one project I am G.L.A.D. to have finally finished...

and it's not even Christmas related!

(Why do teachers plan big projects for students in December? I know school must go on...but why not wait until say...March for this one, hmmm?)

Last week was Wax Museum for Shane's class. He's been working hard since early November on this project.

We finished the report (he wrote, I typed) and I simply had to make a Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls Jersey for him. ('Cause the only ones you can buy are very expensive).

T-shirt, Iron on's. Easy Peasy.

Attempt # 1



White shirt is scorching a bit. Grrrr! I realize I should have used a pressing cloth. Too late now!

Some "minor" scorching can be overlooked, right?

But wait~ not only did I scorch the shirt...I also put the wrong word on the back. The back of the Jersey should have the player's name..."Jordan".... Dang!

And there is just that minor incident of the backwards "B". I like to call it artistic. I was hoping Shane wouldn't notice. Frantically run to JoAnn's to get more iron-on's.

Which brings us to attempt #2:

Emily had a black t-shirt that she let me use. I had to pick out the sleeves and then wash and dry it.

By this time, it's about 1:00 in the morning. Then I get to work with the iron-on's. And I use a pressing cloth this time, just to be safe.

The numbers would not stick. It was a mess! They adhered to the backing paper...not so much to the shirt, though.

 So much for the easy peasy project. It's gonna be an all nighter.

Emily & I run to Wal-mart for more shirts and more iron-on's. I hate iron-on's.

I have to unpick the sleeves, then launder the shirt. This is getting ridiculous!

Finally! We have a winner. It only took me until 3:40 AM to get this easy project done.

Here's the front of the shirt. At 3:20 AM I realized I could only do the red outlining on one side of the shirt, since it had to dry for 4 hours. So only the front got outlined.

And here's the star of the Wax Museum

He looks exactly like Michael Jordan too.

Except he's short

He has hair

And, uh...he's white.

But other than that, he looks exactly like Michael Jordan, right?

All that matters is that the project got done. On time. And Shane had fun & was happy.

Christmas projects? Not going so well.

I've decided to give up baking~ so now I have to come up with another Neighbor Gift idea.

(I am really thinking it might be the altitude here. I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies last night. I've been making these for years. They are sorta my specialty. They came out thin & flat...my baking confidence is shattered!)

Can't find the stuff to make the teacher gifts I wanted to make...it might be a mug/ornament/candle gift after all.

Have a few people that are difficult to buy gifts for (mom & dad...I'm talking about you!)

But...The tree is up, I hope to finish up the shopping by Saturday...and I have not been sick (hope I didn't just jinx myself)!

Hope everything is going fantastically in your neck of the woods!