Christmas Past. circa 1980 something.

Sorry, little bro.  I solemnly swear never to decorate you again.

I've been making.

 

My sister in law, Lori, and I are participating in the Candy Cottage Holiday Market this coming Monday at Rocky Hill Elementary School. So I've been buried in MAKING STUFF!!

 

Hooray! It's been a while. Here are some of the things I will be selling: 

 

The paper cuttings will be available for custom orders (your own quote around 5-6 words on the 5x7 hearts) at the Market. I will have 4 of the Grinch Christmas quote cuttings for sale there, but the rest will be done at home and delivered by December 16th.  (Frames not included.) (I can take 30 orders, so if I don't get that many at the market I'll let you guys order some in that shop I've ignored.)

 

I've got a bunch of bags and aprons, too.  And some rice bags (to warm your toes) and some table runners and some cute little girl flannel skirts.  I'll post some pictures of those this weekend. 

The market is from 4-8pm at Rocky Hill Elementary School on Monday, November 28th - if you live in Knoxville and you wanna come.

And if you see something on my blog that you don't see at the market, just ask while you're there and we'll see what we can do.  Depending on how many orders I've gotten.  I want to spend my December drinking sparkling apple cider and eating bon bons by the tree in my $6 Old Navy jammies and fuzzy slippers while listening to Bing Crosby croon the season away.  so I'm limiting special orders.  You understand.

note of paramount importance to my sugar addicted self...

don't buy the Halloween candy 3 weeks early.

you can't handle it.

this blog has been officially swallowed by summer.

with only two weeks left, I'm giving in.

I will no longer pretend I'm going to blog about our days.

Summer wins.

see ya in a few.

Fuzzy Valentines.

They didn't want the Valentine to say WARM,

because that word implied to much cheesy-ness.

Someone could get the wrong impression, you know

So the WARM FUZZY Valentines became just FUZZY.

They wanted blue hearts,

because boys don't like pink.

And girls are okay with blue.

The plan was to put a small message on the Valentine

that said something like "use this clip to post

warm fuzzies to your family."

no thanks. They said that was cheezy.

Again, the word warm has too many implications.

Keep it short and as mushless as possible, mom.

Jake is just dropping a fuzz in everyone's bag,

without a clip and without a note.

I asked how they're going to know who it's from?

He said he'd make an announcement.

so as to totally avoid any pleasant sentiments.

fyi. we used a glue gun, which took some serious lessons to teach the kids how to hold the fuzz on the very top so they wouldn't touch the glue...but don't let them do the eyeballs! Ouch city.

hey sweetheart,

You really don't have to get me anything for Valentine's Day, because your undying love and devotion is quite sufficient.

However, should you choose to declare your love in an ... hmm ... accessorizing kind of way, any of these will do:

{ARMELLE jewelry}

i opened a shop.

I've been wanting to for a while, but I've been chicken I guess. I've needed a place to sell all this stuff I make, and Etsy was the logical choice, but I've been dragging my feet. I wanted to wait until I had a good stock of stuff, and a really good business plan, and a good unique product, and good marketing, and good packaging, and lots of time to spend on it.

things just don't happen that way in my world.

So I jumped in. I took pictures of the stuff I had, and just did it. It was hard! Wondering how to word things, how to describe the item, is it not enough info?, too much?, what the whooey do I say about myself on that profile page?, yadda yadda. A lot to take in.

I did decide on free shipping ($4 to Canada. Sorry fellow Canucks.). Because I like free shipping. And I decided to keep it really simple. Nothing fancy. I like that.

I'll just post different things when I can, and see what catches on, and just go with it right?.

So check it out, and tell me what you think. What would you like me to put in there, what should I change, what should you do with your hidden stash of Halloween candy in the cupboard? eat it.

I have a few more ideas of things I'd really like to get in there by next week before Christmas (including but not limited to some dolls and more bags and an apron or two), but that all depends totally on how much fun we have here at home and how much I can get done. Which may not be much because we just signed up for Netflix instant streaming through our Wii and we can't stop watching PeeWee Herman's Great Adventure and Garfield and the Secret of Kells and all the chick flicks I've missed. awesome.

Be sure to order if you wanna by DECEMBER 17TH in order to get it by Christmas.

Embroidered Gift Tags

I did a guest post for Chris over at Pickup Some Creativity this weekend on how to make Embroidered Gift Tags. She's got sewing tips and projects all month!

Check it out.

costumes.

we went totally simple this year.

It was great.

Once Kacie caught on that the boys

got to spray paint their hair,

she had to be pink.

So we made her bubble gum.

And Dani's Twix bar costume fell through

so she "whipped up" the fridge.

And just in case you can't figure out

what Andy is...

he's a smorgasbord.

A Bakugan suit, star wars belt, cowboy,

dinosaur footed goblin with a bad hairdo.

awesome.

Monster House.

happy october.

we kept this birthday simple. and happy.

He's celebrated,

and can tell me all his secrets,

and can eat whatever he wants for dinner.

we all have a happy day.

You're pretty remarkable, Andy. I'll write a book about you someday.

mothers week on sparkle power.

One thing I love about Mother's Day is the positive mom inspiration spread all over blog land. This is the week we get all sentimental about our jobs and our kids, and throw it everywhere. I love it. It's like blasphemy to complain during Mother's week.

One such place I've enjoyed this week has been Candace's blog, sparkle power.

She's invited a handful of mom bloggers to share their feelings about motherhood this week, and it's been great. Candace is very real, which I like. She asked if I could contribute, and I kept waiting for her to send me another email politely retracting her invitation once she realized that I really don't know what I'm talking about. But she didn't, and I'm grateful to be included.

Happy Mother's Day.

Conan brined our turkey. And other non essential information:

I have no pictures from Christmas, or any other such recent event, in which I will explain later. And so, since I cannot in good conscience begin a new decade with a picture-less post, I am sharing this.

I call it: Children with Oreo Shakes and a Green Gun.

Let's try to keep them in proper perspective in the New Year, is my wish.

Shakes, good. Plastic guns, okay as long as they're not pointed at your sisters face in close proximity.

Okay, here's my holiday update:

• Popular to contrary belief, I am alive and will blog.

• My omentum got 2 brand new sparkling inches for Christmas. Lovely. But as it should be.

• I didn't finish or come close to even starting the Barbie clothes for Kacie's lovely box of 10 used "mommies and daddies" from ebay. So Ken has a wedgie and the red hair mommy Barbie shows too much leg. But oh well. They're naked now anyways; and will probably stay unclothed for another decade. I'm letting go of this project.

• My new fancy pants camera was stolen. Yup. That's right. Ripped from my very being; and I cried my fancy pants off. Alone, mind you, because it would be embarrassing for anyone to see my crying crocodile tears over a camera with no pants. Just kidding. Here's the story: We went to my sister's house in Alabama, and as I was getting out of the van one afternoon I glanced at my personal belongings {aka purse and camera} and thought "I should take those inside." And the other me thought "No, the kids will just get into it. Leave it here." And the other me thought "Then you should lock the door for sure." And the smart me that has no brain thought "Yeah, do that." And I didn't. So the next morning my sister comes in the house saying she found my purse dumped out in the woods, and the camera loving me thought "My camera!" So I ran to the van, and yup, it was gone. They didn't take anything from my purse, they just dumped it out so as to appear to be looking for something other than a fancy pants camera. I would much rather have them take my Tide Stain Be Gone pen, or the ever valuable princess PullUp. I say they because I'm pretty sure it was a band of wild somethings. Creeps.

• I learned how to make creme brulee and ate it twice. Hence, two inches on the omentum. My sister learned to make it while in Paris, so it was French custard. I bought 8 ramekins at Ross today so I can make it. I just need a torch. Because you torch the top, you know. very French.

• The boys got guns for Christmas. nerf. green.

• Conan brined our turkey. He stuck it in a bucket of salty broth and crystalized ginger overnight, and it was so good. He is now the turkey master.

• I got Conan the soundtrack to West Side Story for his stocking because I knew he'd love it oh so much. Turns out he didn't, so he gave it to me. So generous of him. He got me brie (the fancy cheese) because I love fancy cheese, and some vintage tupperware canisters, and itunes cards. And the books I posted below. He's a smart clicker.

• Last but not least, I'm a mac now. And so that's where I've been. Drowning in the pc to macbook transition realm of how the heck do I right click this thing? I'm so excited to garage band. Power to the iLife.

Happy 2010.