Christmas-y...

We finally got our Christmas decorations up... about time! I knew that if I didn't get them up this last weekend then it wasn't going to happen... but it did.

We don't have a whole lot of Christmas decorations. I'm really bad at decorating for holiday's, Christmas included. This is going to be something that I'm going to work on next year... more on that later.

Yes... I do have Santa decked out in leopard print as part of my Christmas decor... I love it! I don't mind having leopard print swirled into our holiday fun... Red, silver... and leopard.

We are starting a new tradition this year though. A friend of ours gets their kids a new ornament every year that symbolizes "the year" for that child. I thought that was a cute idea! So this year we got little man...

... an elephant. He's already ripped the poor elephants spring arms off of him... but he's two... so whatever. He's still cute. And little man has been obsessed with elephants all year so it fits him.

Chocolate chip cookie...

I've been on the hunt for a while... for the best chocolate chip cookie out there. You see, I'd been making this one recipe forever... and I noticed that my husband would eat one and call it good. That sort of bothered me, because if I'm going to try and be a good wife and have warm cookies available then I think they should get eaten right? So one time I asked him if he didn't like chocolate chip cookies or something and he said, "Umm... I like them, just not those ones..." Oh please!

So I've tried out about six different recipes now, all claiming to be the best... each time husband has not given his utmost approval. Until yesterday...

These may be the winners... they were dang good! Crisp on the outside yet still chewy in the middle... husband took a little baggie to work this morning...

Stacking the Odds...

Oh my... have you ever fallen in love with a quilt before? I hadn't "fallen in love" until last night when I saw this Stacking the Odds quilt by Denyse Schmidt. Oh my... I love it!

I love the pattern... the clean lines... the rows... the white.... how modern it is compared to other quilt patterns... I love this new fabric line she has going called Hope Valley.

My husband has been asking me for years (literally) to make a new quilt for our bed. Ours was a wedding gift and has been well loved... and is falling apart. I've been hesitant because it's pricy and takes so much work to make a king sized quilt... but I'm doing it! I'm totally going to make this one... I can't wait!

Amy Butler Rugs...

I've always loved Amy Butler's fabric. Now they've made her fabric into rugs!!! Oh they are beautiful... if I only had you know... $1700 to drop on a rug.

John and Emily Jones Memorial Auction...

Stephanie over at A Daily Scoop is hosting an online auction for Emily Jones, the wife of John Jones who died in the Nutty Putty caves last Friday (you can read about it here). He leaves behind a wife who is pregnant with her second child, and a 14 month old daughter. My heart aches for this sweet family... my own husband has gone through those caves many times. Life is so fragile, and I can't even imagine what his sweet wife is going though now and will continue to go through with this great loss.

I am auctioning off one of my family trees. It is item #22 in the auction. The auction is running until December 7th. So please head on over there and take a look at the items up for auction. All proceeds will go to the John and Emily Jones Memorial Fund.

Snow...

I don't plan on seeing any of this anytime soon... so enjoy it for me.

Snow on berries... photo from Getty Images.

Calendars...

I have really enjoyed my 2009 calendar that I bought from Seventy and Sunny last year. You know, you look at a calendar almost everyday... at least I do. It sits on the wall day after day, I think that it's worth it to get a really pretty one. So I've been looking around, trying to find one for 2010. Here are a few that I've found that I'm loving... going with the nature theme still...

1- Summer All Year by Bomobob

2- 2010 Botanical Calendar by le papier studio

3- A Year of Birds... also by Bomobob

4- Mod Meadow Calendar by Urban Design

Family Tree...

I made my parents a family tree and gave it to them for Christmas last year. It proudly hangs by their front door for all who enter their house to see. I've been wanting to offer this tree in my shop all year and it is finally in!

Each tree is customized with dad + mom initials plus all of the children's initials stitched down the tree.

I'm excited to have this available! Order soon if you would like to give this to a special family for Christmas!

photos by the talented Corinne Adair...

Cranberry Tea...

I posted this recipe on my family blog last Thanksgiving but it's worth a repeat! I love it, I can't wait to make it on Thursday...

Cranberry Tea

1 cinnamon stick

1 bag cranberries

12 cups water

Place all items in a pot over medium heat for two hours.

In a separate pan combine:

1 cups prepared orange juice

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

Boil and then add to the cranberry mixture. Stir it up and strain before serving!

Yum... can't wait!

Birthday Banner...

Birthday season is now done at my house... we all have Fall birthday's around here. This year I decided to make a little birthday banner that we could use for every one's birthday and for years to come. I made it out of scrap material, black felt, and black biased tape. I think that it turned out pretty cute.

I still need to wash it so that the edges fray a little, but I think that it will be a fun thing to have around for the birthday's.

Indian Corn...

I want to try out something new... There are so many beautiful things in nature and that is where I receive most of my inspiration. So every Monday I'm going to post a picture of something from nature... to start the week out right! This week I'm feeling festive...




Indian Corn... photo from Getty Images.

Wooden clock...

I love this clock! I've spent the last few days trying to figure out how to transform my boring wall clock into something pretty like this... maybe a little different design but the same idea of it being out of wood with a clock painting around it. So simple and pretty...

Image first seen here.

Died...

Wow... so I've sort of let this blog die...

Time for a revival!!!

I feel bad, I have so many great ideas and things that I want to share on here but life has just been too crazy for me lately. I've decided though that I really need an escape from the crazy so I'm going to try harder to keep this blog alive and well... and my creative side.

So stay tuned... if you're still even around! The revival is coming...

Finished mirror...

Ahhh... I've been enjoying my new mirror all week! My hubby did a great job!

We couldn't find any little wooden caps for the "wooden nail" look so we ended up sanding down the edges of a wooden dowel and cutting off the little knobs and gluing them into the holes. That's love people!

Now to figure out how to refinish the fireplace!!! Tile it? Put molding around it? Not sure yet...

Mirror...

Husband is building me a mirror. Here's the story. A few weeks ago we painted our guest bathroom. There was this big ole' mirror on the wall that we took down and we put up a smaller framed mirror in it's place. So then we were left with this huge mirror sitting around for a few days. Husband decided to make me a mirror to go over our fireplace with it.





So we bought a glass cutter (just a little cheap tool that scores the glass so you can break it) and cut down the mirror to the appropriate size and husband built the frame with some wood we bought at Home Depot.





Here was our mirror inspiration from Pottery Barn...

This mirror retails for about $500... ours will be cashing in at around $30!!! That's awesome!

Ours has a thicker frame and is not quiet so rustic. We used new wood instead of refurbished wood but it still has that rustic feel which I love. I'm so excited... the stain is drying on it right now so I'll post up a picture when it's done!!!

I love a handy husband...