christmas gifts and lights

my christmas was spent eating tons of great food and sitting by the fire staring at twinkle lights. it was also spent creating many homemade gifts for my family.
about 2 days before one of my brothers arrived, i found this pattern on martha stewart for the most amazing oak leaf bowls. my mom and i hurried to the local thrift store in the pouring rain and picked up an old tweed skirt and men's jacket. the three bowls were printed on paper between the sizes of 8.5 x 11 and 5 x 7. they turned out perfect and would work best used for odds and ends such as keys or pocket change.

cupcakes and friends

tonight is my annual ornament exchange party with 4 of my favorite people. we each make homemade ornaments and then walk away with 4 new ones. it is a great tradition and a lot of fun to see what everyone has made. however, it is best kept small so you don't get overwhelmed with ornaments as the years pass.

i made caramel banana cupcakes for dessert, but they looked so good, i had to try one early. i found the recipe in an old rachel ray magazine. often, i am leery of magazine recipes, at least half of what i try to make turns out awful - still not sure if that is due to my lack of cooking skills, or that no one at the mag actually ever tested the recipe. this one was a pleasant surprise, they are delicious. be warned that they do take a long time too make - more than the allotted 40 minutes and you might not want to eat many when you know how much fatty ingredients are involved!

new listings and etsy

finally, i have begun to list more items on my etsy shop. i procrastinate until i have a million of items and then it is just way to much :) since i learned early on not to list everything at one time, i will be adding items once a day over the next few weeks. lamps, shades and a ton of aprons.

one of my favorite new items are these black and white shades. but, i have decided to keep them for a secret room in my house that will be revealed after the holidays. not to fear, i will be making more as soon as my fingers are freed up from elf work.

only 16 more days until christmas. yikes! i spent the day photographing items for etsy. is it just me, or do you think photographing and editing your wares is the most tedious process. it takes me forever to get motivated to drag out all the props, lighting, etc. i am so envious of the shops that sell the same items over and over again. they can relist as they please without taking new photos. but i guess the process of making the same item over and over again is the tedious part for them!

on another note, i absolutely love the advent calendar that my munchkins have been using for the past few years. this is from the martha stewart collection at michaels and unfortunately, i don't know if they are even for sale anymore. i bought one and then went back after christmas to buy up the rest for years to come. if you do happen to find these this holiday, one tip, use double-sided sticky tape to assemble rather than the glue included in the package. your holidays will be much less stressful!

trees and stands

remember how i have been on the hunt for a galvanized bucket to sit my tree in? well, my brother gave me a tip to go to lowe's and guess what, they had them for only 14.99! sometimes, my mind is so entrenched in antiquing and hunting for something old that i completely overlook the obvious. plus, the upside of buying a brand new one is that there won't be any rust on my carpet when i take everything down after the holidays.

last year, on a whim i used colored lights on our tree, then spent the entire month of december feeling like something wasn't right. this year, i went back to the old stand by - plain white lights and i can breathe again. don't you just love anything that sparkles!

flowers and my first tutorial

since only one person was able to win my flower giveaway, i have uploaded instructions for you to be able to make them at home. click here to download and have fun!