Thinking about...

I wish there was more time in December to work on holiday crafting.... but there never is! Maybe in July... is that what Christmas in July is all about? Work on the crafts you want for Christmas but wont have time to make once the fall comes around? Like this cute little deer (sorry, I have no clue where I got this picture from... anyone know?) I would love to make some cute little deer for part of our Christmas...

I made this Guiltless Alfredo Sauce the other day... Oh my... it was really really good! Really easy too! Anything that uses real garlic is good in my book though. Never again will I use pre-canned Alfredo sauce...

I'm starting to get a real shoe fetish... a little late in life?... maybe I don't want to turn 30 and not have bought any real cute shoes in my lifetime ;) (I've got a little ways to 30 though... so there is still time). I'm planning on finding some of these under the tree... why little man... you shouldn't have!

I also have a thing for yellow these days. Maybe it's the gloominess of winter... I keep finding myself drawn to yellow. Like these flowers, and this fabric, (down at the bottom) and maybe even something like this skirt...

Reindeer...

Reindeer... aren't they beautiful!

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Big thank you!!!

I wanted to say THANK YOU!!! to everyone who ordered family trees this year! It's been a forest around here... literally! I've had so much fun making these, knowing that someone will open this on Christmas morning... a tree symbolizing their family... I'm so happy to be a part of that.

I wanted to share my most "challenging" tree of the season. One family named four of their kids "R" names... so initials weren't the best idea. Instead I stitched out the full names...

I think that it turned out really cute! Ron, Richard, Ryan, Randy... and Kelli ;). Too cute!

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.