HB's Christmas Blanket

I made a fantastically awesome blanket for HB this Christmas. It was a huge secret, but now I can show you photos!

Individual Squares (Cream, Orange, and Grey)

Assembling the Squares

All Sewn Together - And Finally Gifted

Loved by the Whole Family!

Puff Stitch Cowl Progress

Puff Stitch Cowl

I think it's coming along quite nicely...

Next in Queue

While everyone made breakfast, tried to put on a DVD, and downloaded Skype from across the county I found a quick second to snag a pattern on Ravelry that I'd like to work on this weekend.

What do you think?

Pattern available here.

Instructions from the blog of:

Supplies Supplies

I get gleeful about things like yarn. Shane went to the store with me last week and kept himself entertained while I walked through rows of skeins and picked up about a million things before selecting these five:

As soon as I got home I had to show my Dad what I’d bought and talk, talk, talk about all the patterns I’d looked through and what I’d finally picked to make with these.

Here are a few hints for you:

What makes you excited like a kid on Christmas morning? I hope everyone else is as lucky as me and has a family full of people who will listen to you yammer on and on about yarn weight, content, hook size, etc.

Alright I’m off to crochet!

Thinking Ahead to the New Year

Sometimes I have too many projects going on at once. I start crocheting a pair of slippers and then three days later I decide I want to DIY some covered hangers. In a few days two projects turns to three, three turns into six and suddenly the craft room is a mess, I’m overwhelmed, and nothing gets finished.

One of my goals for this year is to focus. Finish one project before starting a new one (same goes for books, research, etc…).

I think it’s easy to take a hard look at your life every December and decide that there are a lot of things you could do better like eating right, exercising regularly, keeping your house clean, sticking to your budget and all that other  stuff we are soo good at doing because we enjoy it so much. This year lets be kind to ourselves, take on less, and take it one day at a time.

I’m going to focus on a few things - making smart goals and working toward them. I’m not going to try to do it all at once. Who wants to get overwhelmed, end up crying, and then quit anyway?

Not this girl!

Christmas Quiz!

photo credit

I feel like I’m in 8^th grade again, but I couldn’t pass up this Christmas quiz…

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate + UV Cake + Whip Cream = Delicious!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wraps them!
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Never, but when I get a place I’m doing this. I think it would be sweet :]
5. When do you put your decorations up? The weekend after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Fondue – on the years that we have fondue at Mom Mom’s house. Or peanut butter kisses. Although I always swear I’ll  never eat another cookie after cookie weekend. As for favorite drinks: Holiday Sangria. I’ve been asked to make it 3 times this season!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Listening for Santa from my bed, putting out cookies, pulling my cats out of the Christmas tree.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Not sure how old…It was after I got my American Girl doll though!
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, usually PJs which you wore on Christmas Eve. Until I got old enough that I knew which boxes contained Barbies and I wanted t o open one of those on Christmas Eve :]
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Pretty sure Dad did the entire thing this year. Our tree has lights in it already so you take it out of the box, muss up the branches (you know so it’s more tree-like) and plug it in. It gets decorated with ribbon that matches our wallpaper and ball ornaments.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it on Christmas, actually, I love snow when it’s fresh. I was a kid for the blizzard of ’95 and got snowed in at college my senior  year so snow = amazing amounts of fun in my mind.
12. Can you ice skate? Nope.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I don’t know that I have a favorite gift, I’ve gotten some pretty amazing ones.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with family and friends, being with the people I love.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Any cookie that is a combination of chocolate + peanut butter.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Breakfast with the family Christmas morning.
17. What tops your tree? A giant bow!
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving – for real – I love when I’ve gotten it right and someone is really excited about their gift. (But seriously who would say receiving even if it was true?)
19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? YUCK
20. Favorite Christmas show? The claymation Rudolf!
21. Saddest Christmas song? Christmas Shoes – I really hate that song.
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? – I don’t have one. But I was jamming out to Neil Diamond singing Adam Sandler’s Hanukah song  in my car this morning :]

 

Buzz Buzz

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog routine to tell you that I am off my game folks.

What gives? Well…Tuesday night I got home from work (like normal) started to cook dinner (like normal) and let Guss Guss out of his cage because he was crying (like normal).

Bird brain does NOT like to be alone, so while I cooked dinner using the stove in the center of our kitchen Guss ran around on the counter top on the outer edge of the kitchen playing with a paper bag.

Why a paper bag? You see Guss loves to shred things. During the day we give him cardboard (preferably with no ink) and when he’s out of the cage we hide things we don’t want him to grab hold of and ruin (like the buttons that unlock your car, the remote to the TV, etc). Well he had his paper bag against the wall so he could better pin it down to shred it – I couldn’t really see this because he was behind my back, but he wasn’t getting into trouble – I thought­ ­– so I left him to it.

I’m a bad Mommy. I was not paying enough attention to Guss. And while he did not light his tail on fire by touching it to a hot burner (someone else’s story) he DID chew on the coffee pot wire – hidden beneath his paper bag – and  KER-POW he got zapped.

Trust me, I was  not laughing. He screamed and flew across the room. Realization 1 “he’s not dead, he’s flying”, realization 2 “he&#8 217;s screaming so his lungs work.” Let me tell you I was panicked, but so thankful.

I ran across the house to catch him. Remember he’s upset and semi-flying (his wings are clipped) so now I’ve got to figure out where he finally landed before he hurts himself because he’s panicked. A quick check and I saw that while his feathers to the left of  his beak were blackened they weren’t singed, his beak which is normally black and a reddish copper hue (dust from inside the wire?), but his skin wasn’t burnt. His mouth didn’t look burned either.

I called my vet who was on dinner break (har har). I call the bird store, where I find out they don’t have a vet on staff, but they recommend an avian vet 30 minutes away. [P.S. The associate who answered the phone assured me that because my bird does  not have saliva he could not have gotten electrocuted…ok, sure.] I call the avian vet and they say that despite the fact that Guss seems fine (except now he’s sneezing, so maybe he burnt the inside of his nose/beak?) I need to bring him in now.

Zoom…off I went down the highway, dodging lots of accidents because it’s nearly Christmas and people rear ended each other (I passed 2 accidents during the 30 minute drive). Got lost, called the office, bird screamed most of the ride because he doesn’t like the carrier (we call this the pope mobile because it’s made of plexiglas and looks like the bullet proof thing that the pope rides around in), and finally I arrive. I waited…and waited…to finally be brought back to the exam room (I guess it can’t be that bad if they made me wait).

Two vet techs played with Guss for about 15 minutes. He hammed it up by reciting every version of “hello” that he knows and dancing. Somewhat like the bird below… Once of the techs was even able to hold him. I suppose he was over the whole buzz buzz ordeal at this point.

Mom, Dad, and my cousin arrived at the office and the vet comes in soon after. Guss got a once over (which required a tech to restrain him, not fun for anyone involved). I nearly died when the vet said, “Do you smell smoke? I think he smells like smoke.” Another search of his feathers, and a very challenging look inside Bird Brain’s mouth – ps he was able to pinch the poor vet twice by forcing the clamp she had in his mouth closed –  and, finally, Guss was let go with a clean bill of hea lth. No burns, no heart trouble, and no damage to his lungs. HOORAY!

So it turns out this little man is incredibly lucky. I now affectionately call him “Dark Roast,” roast for short. Despite his vet bill (which was very reasonable at under $75 for an emergency visit to see a specialist + another $30 for a new coffee pot because we weren’t able to patch the cord) Roast will still get a few things in his stocking for Christmas. Things like coal and maybe a coffee bean or two as a reminder.

Merry Christmas everyone! Give your pets a hug and ok maybe your family too.

Sweetly (?) Saturday

I had another wonderful weekend. Ok I’m lying, my weekend wasn’t wonderful. Or rather it was wonderful (lots of fun things to do, like visiting family, finishing handmade presents, spending quality time with HB) but I was not so great.

I’ve been a little under the weather recently. First, it was the cold that wouldn’t go away (almost 2 weeks of round the clock DayQuil/NyQuil) and then this weekend I woke up on Saturday with a mild sore throat that got TERRIBLE by 9:00 pm. I know a sore throat is not normally a big deal, and I’m not always a big baby when it comes to being sick. I was moody and upset because I thought my sore throat was an early sign of something much worse.

Have you ever had an ulcer? I did, and let me tell you it was terrible! Right before Thanksgiving break my sophomore year of college I woke up with a sore throat and by that evening I was having a hard time swallowing at all. On Thanksgiving I couldn’t eat a thing. The next morning I couldn’t drink water. I was at the doctor’s the minute they opened and was given a prescription and some heavy duty antacids.

Soo…my little sore throat this weekend (which turned out to be nothing and I am so thankful) had me completely bent out of shape. But, I sucked it up and had some fun with family and got crafty :]

PS Despite the sore throat, I ate that toast!

Gluten Free Pancakes

I told HB way back before Thanksgiving that I would make gluten free pumpkin pancakes for him. I found the recipe on Design*Sponge and was so excited about it. Well...it's not that I forgot, but things have been busy!

This weekend I finally made the time and on Saturday morning HB, Leslie (HB's roommate), and I got to enjoy these lovelies!

 

Doesn't that make your mouth water? Even if you don't have to follow a gluten free diet these are good.

My only recommendations? Leave the milk on the counter, I ended up added more to the batter after the first and second pancake trying to get the texture  right. I believe it's because not all gluten free flower mixes are the same and the stuff I was working with just needed more milk. Or maybe my pumpkin puree was a bit more pasty then the norm?

First pancake, too thick...

Second pancake, still too thick.

But...they still taste amazing!

Pin It

Christmas Cookies

Every year we make 11 different kinds of cookies. That's right, 11. It's a three day process. Dough making on Friday night. More dough making and actual baking on Saturday. And final baking as well as wrapping/plate assembly on Sunday.

Cookies we always make:

1. Chocolate Chip
2. Oatmeal Raisin
3. Cherry Winks
4. Peanut Butter Kisses
5. Macadamia Nut
6. Sugar Cookies
7. Cream Cheese Cookies
8. *Cinnamon Crispy Bars
9. *Chocolate Iced Bars
10. Nutmeg Logs
11. Snicker Doodles

*These are not the actual cookie names, which at this moment I cannot remember.

Here are two of my favorite cookie recipes:

Nutmeg Logs

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoons Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

FROSTING:

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon rum extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons half-and-half cream 

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and extracts; mix well. Combine the flour, nutmeg and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture.
• On a lightly floured surface, shape dough into 1/2-in.-wide logs. Cut into 2-in. pieces. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 11-14 minutes or until center is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
• For frosting, in a bowl, combine the butter, confectioners' sugar, extracts and enough cream to achieve a spreading consistency. Frost cooled cookies. Yield: 4-1/2 dozen.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cream butter. Add 3/4 cup sugar and add mix thoroughly.
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt; stir in mixture.
4. Form dough into balls about the size of walnuts.
5. Roll in mixture of 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
6. Place two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 8 - 10 minutes.

 Enjoy!

PS I'm linking up with...

Slipper Socks!

Remember when I said I spent some time on Ravelry after finishing HB's Christmas present? Well I found this pattern from Thistle and Tulips Crochet and got right to work!

I used leftover yarn I had in a cabinet (berocco pure merino in cardinal red) to make these:

The left on is inside out in this picture. I'm not sure how that happened...

It was a very easy project. (Total time < 3 hours) and did not require much concentration. I love them. Even HB thought they looked delicious...

 

Err...right. Maybe I need to feed him a little more often. 

Now that I've finished making my first pair I'm on to a second, this time in black, and with a few modifications/embellishments. More pictures soon I'm sure.

Is anyone else taking a break to do something for themselves in the middle of all of the holiday chaos?

Ok maybe I did feel a little guilty, but I'm almost done with Christmas presents (hooray!). It was a crafty weekend aided by lots of this:

Hot Chocolate with Whip Cream

Etsy Recovery

I finally finished making HB’s Christmas present last night! I think I’ve been working on it for the last two months (seriously, lots of woman hours on this one) and I’m so happy with the way it turned out. Don’t worry I’ll share lots of pictures and a few details about the snags in my process after Christmas. [I should probably take presents before Christmas as I’m pretty sure HB will be annoyed if I still his present for photos after giving it to him.]

As a reward for all of my hard work I allowed myself a little random surfing on my two of my favorite sites, Etsy and Ravelry.

Please don’t misunderstand, I do not have time to play on the internet,  there are after all still handmade gifts to make! But the TV was on, my entire family was in the living room, and I felt guilty about going back upstairs to work on another gift (at this point all the gifts I have remaining need to be made in secret because I live with the gift recipients).

So…here’s a collection of kitchen related handmade goodies I was drooling over on Etsy (nope, it’s not on Pinterest, I’m only sharing with you, dear readers).

OhHelloMagpie

SundayBrocantes

hairbrainedschemes

sheilasart

rapisarad

claylicious

ReedLove

Aren’t they great? I also started a project I found on Ravelry (using yarn I already had on hand), but that’s a post for another time…Back to the kitchen items.

I’ve been spending a lot of time recently dreaming about what my craft room will look like, my bedroom, my living room, my kitchen, etc… Can you tell I want my own place?  Yeah, I want that like yesterday.

I love where I live now. My home is beautiful, comfortable, and my family is fantastic. But it’s not my house to decorate and run how I please, and well who doesn’t want to build a home that is uniquely theirs?

So this collage making, pinning on Pinterest, and general drooling over house wares, this is me practicing patience.

Ok and I may have started looking at apartments on Craigslist. Just a little. Even though I know it’s silly to pay someone else’s morage. Even though o ne of my savings accounts is dedicated to a down payment on a house. Even though I have developed a monthly budget around saving for a house.

Oh yeah, I’m patient. And disciplined.

Handmade House Tour

There are a lot of handmade items in my home. Most of which you've already seen here. Like the banner I made or [insert another item].

Here are some things that have been in my home for ages...

Photo #1 shows two mugs I made in 2006. Both are thrown on a wheel and glazed with food safe glaze. Currently they house my expanding green onion garden next to the kitchen sink. That blue mug, it lived in my garage for years with a few other things I made in ceramics class that my dad has been holding on too (a soup crock, a face sculpture...). The second mug was living in my bedroom, collecting dust, until it was re-purposed downstairs.

Photo #2 is a ripple afghan my mother made. Years ago I helped teach my mother to crochet and tried to teach her to read a pattern. Instead, I spent a lot of time sitting next to her, watching her crochet (correctly) and answering a million, "What did I just do?" and "Am I doing this right?" questions. Mom crochet's beautifully by the way (see the blanket) - I just think she likes her crocheting to be a bit more of a group activity then I'm use to. :]

Photos #3 + #4 are of the only piece of clothing I ever crocheted. The pattern came out of a summer edition of crochet magazine back in 2007 or 2008. I think I was just aimlessly working on this at home when Mom walked by and asked (jokingly), "Are you making that for me?" and so I did. I don't think she's ever worn it - to be fair, it's not her usual style - but she's kept it in the closet for years which was very thoughtful.

And that's it for the evening!

I know, I know...that wasn't much of a house tour. Photo #1 was taken in the kitchen, photo #2 was taken in the living room, and photos #3 + #4 were taken in the guest bedroom. Yes I could have taken pictures of the room, but since we currently have company  and Christmas decorations everywhere I choose not to.

What I really need to do is stop gabbing (typing...?) and go upstairs to finish making Christmas presents. This weekend (which technically starts tomorrow) is my last chance to finish EVERYTHING and I am much further from finished then I would like to be.

So I'm off!

Getting Organized

I worked with a woman who once told me I had too many notebooks. I’ll be honest, I wanted to tell her, “I didn’t ask for your opinion thank-you-very-much.” But, hey, I’m not perfect either and I kept my trap shut.

But she may have been on to something. I have an agenda book, a spiral notebook on my desk in the office with my daily notes/task list, a small spiral bound inspiration notebook, an old pink lined notebook that I used when I took the Blogging Your Way ecourse, a black moleskin notebook, and others that I haven’t seen in a while so I’ve probably forgotten them.

What’s a list maker to do when she’s got too many places to keep her list?

Something drastic.

Something painful.

Something scary.

I put ALL of the notebooks away, except one. This one:

I will now write ever grocery, task, blog goal, etc… in this note book.

AND to avoid having to flip through every time I want to find something I now carry these  stickies in my wallet. Yes those are post it flags. Yes I am able to write on them.

 

Yep, I’m that girl.

Weekend Recap

Wow…that was a busy weekend!

Friday, got off of work and made a FINAL trip to the craft store for Christmas present related supplies. Friday evening I managed to scarf down some leftovers I found in the refrigerator (aka no cooking) and spent the remainder of the evening crafting away only to discover I had made a mistake and needed to redo…5% of Shane’s present (I thought I was  90% complete the present).

I didn’t take the discovery well. I was grumpy, frustrated, and a little panicky. What happens if I don’t finish everyone’s gifts before Christmas? I hid out in my room the rest of the night working on Shane’s gift. At the end of the night I wasn’t quite as close to complete as I thought I was at the start of the evening.

My cousin Sammy is a pro with a cookie cutter + rolling pin.

Saturday was much better. I woke up early and got ready to go to my aunt’s house to make Christmas cookies with my Aunt Lisa, Aunt Tracey, cousins, and MomMom. Cookie making is traditionally a weekend long affair (held for the past six years at my Mom’s house) where we make 11 kinds of Christmas cookies which are then assembled into trays and given out as gifts. I’m not a huge fan of dessert and Mom doesn’t really want to cookies in the house (too much temptation) so I was there mainly to spend time with family.

And look at the two new additions to Aunt Lisa and Uncle Sam’s brood? Aren’t they adorable?

We had a great time making cookies, but by 5:00 I knew something was not right (I wasn’t feeling well at all) and that I had an hour drive alone ahead of me. I said my goodbyes and made it home fine. HB surprised me by coming over and kept me company while I spent the evening on the couch with a bucket (I’ll spare you the details, but the bucket remained clean!) and nicely rubbed my back and got me whatever I wanted all evening.

Then Hobbs got sick. I don’t know what my poor puppy ate but let’s just say he also was not feeling wellat all and around 10:30 HB and I were taking care of a sick pooch and a mess.

Mom & Dad left the house at about this time to pick up my cousin from the airport – woot! My cousin is spending a whole month with us. I could  not be happier. Everyone stayed up late to say hi and do a bit of catching up before finally passing out around…1am? This is so late for me, and remember I wasn’t feeling well most of the evening so I was tired!

Sunday everyone was up early. HB was leaving for a job in PA, Mom was up at 7:00 AM making a fire + being chipper, and my cousin (who really should have been exhausted, jet lag anyone?) had breakfast with HB. Dad and I rolled downstairs at approximately 7:45 and sat in front of the fire with our coffee. We are the resident non-morning people. We prefer to remain quit and caffeinate until approximately 9:00.

Café mocha home brew

Then it was off to the farmers market to buy fruits and vegetables. I love the farmers market! HB and I use to spend a lot of time there checking out the flea market on Sunday’s over the summer and picking up produce (mainly avocados) to snack on during the week.

After our farmers marke t run the family split up. Mom & I went on a grocery shopping run hitting Sam’s club, Pathmark, and the meat shop (oh yeah we go to a separate store to buy meat). The Dad & my cousin went to Home Depot and practiced driving stick in the Jeep. Side note: Dad’s Jeep is a ’94 and HATES first gear. Big props to my cousin who can now drive stick better than me (I once made it an hour to my grandmothers driving that monster, but haven’t successfully driven anywhere since) with fewer lessons.

Sunday afternoon we reconvened to eat lunch and prepare to go…ROCKCLIMBING! I haven’t gone in almost a year ::gasp:: but it was so much fun to be back in the gym. I tore up my hands, realized how out of shape I am, and generally had a good time with my family. I’m sure we’ll go back again before my cousin heads back to school.

Sunday night we all crashed hard after having some comfort food, ham and cabbage – yum! Tonight I’m back in the studio (aka my bedroom) frantically trying to finish holiday gifts for the family.

Wish me luck!

Kasey M. Approved Gift Guide II

The ladies over on Design Sponge are getting things right again. Check out this DIY Lover gift guide. 

You know how I feel about handmade living (be intentional, live an imperfectly perfect life, and contribute to your community) so if you can’t make something for everyone on your list supporting their handmade crafts is a fantastic alterna tive.

Check out the full guide here.

Inspiration Workshop! Holiday Decorating + The Office

 I’m not allowed to take pictures in the ultra super secret office where I work so I can’t show you how corporate and undecorated my cube is. It feels somewhat uninspired and decidedly not Christmas or holiday like. So when I had a free minute over lunch I trolled Pinterest for some decoration ideas.

Look what I found…

How to Make a Banner

I'll admit it. Sometimes the changing leaves and cooler temperatures make me a bit blue. And when I'm feeling down I need a distraction.

I know lots of people love fall and don't need crafty distractions to cheer them up. I am not one of those people.

The colors really are beautiful, I get it. I'm not immune to the changing leaves and refreshing breeze of a day in the 60s. Especially not after experiencing a summer full of East coast humidity and a record breaking 100+ degree heat wave. But fall is to winter as Sunday is to Monday. On Sunday afternoon I end up dreading the thought of getting up for work on Monday morning. On a beautiful fall day I dread the thought of winter temperatures in the teens. Don't ask me why, these things just happen.

Inspiration Photo from Pamwares Etsy Shop

Handmade House Tour

Alright, alright. I mentioned last week that I was nicely rejuvenated for the Thanksgiving holiday and starting a new blog series where I take you on a tour of my house by letting you see all it's handmade contents living in their natural environment.

Today we're starting with my bedroom. A place of tranquility, relaxation, and cat naps. Seriously, the cats are always laying in the sun from my windows. The only time I find the room relaxing is the rare occasion when everything is picked up, the bed is made, and there is no laundry to put away. Which lucky for you is today!

Kasey M. Approved Gift Guide

I love handmade gifts. I've received some pretty awesome ones over the last year and a half like these wax seals given to me by my boyfriend for my birthday.

This year I'm trying to make gifts for everyone on my list. Just one more element of my handmade life, right?


Well it's tough coming up with something useful for each person I know. Add in the amount of time it takes to make gifts, my budget, and my limited skill set and well it's easy to get stumped. I know a lot of people turn to holiday gift guides for inspiration so when I finally found one that I liked, not based on price range and your buying power, I thought I'd share it with you too.  


Ok maybe not everything on the list is exactly handmade, but this is still a very good gift guide if you'd like to focus on, "the multitude of handcrafted, naturally sourced and locally focused gifts available..." Head over to Design*Sponge if you haven't already to check out the full list.

Photo's rounded up by the BBB Craft Sisters here.

Sweetly Saturday

I really do love the holidays. This Saturday Mom, Dad, and I spent most of the day decorating the house and gathering essentials like tissue paper and ribbon for the upcoming weeks. And yes I enjoyed all of this while terribly sick.

These puppies saved my day.

Even our pets got in on the action. Gus kept time to the Christmas music...

Jingle, Jingle. Guss gets in the holiday spirit.

Inspiration Workshop! Tips & Secrets for the Holidays

I’m linking up to the Inspiration Workshop! on Gussy Sews again this week. I love linky parties. They take my favorite blog elements (awesome personalities, a peek into another person’s life, interesting content) and combine them with my favorite pinterest elements (a curated gallery of photos, original links for more information, inspiration for my creative spirit). This week our prompt is… “Tips & Secrets for the Holidays.”

Oy…I have participated in many a holiday, but I haven't really thrown one myself. Am I qualified to give holiday tips? Do I have any secrets? Meh, not so much.

Here’s what I’ve got:

She's Not a One Trick Pony

I’m back and energized from seeing family and eating way-too-much turkey. For serious, no more turkey.

In addition to all the mental rejuvenation that came from spending loads of quality time with quality people (family, old friends – yes kiddos we’re “old friends” after MORE THAN 10 YEARS) the creative juices are flowing. So I’m proud to announce drum roll please… my first blog series!

Here is the gist…I’m going to take you on a photo tour of my home over the course of the next month, but I’m not just going to snap pictures with captions like “this is my bedroom,” “this is the kitchen,” and "this is where I do laundry." I’m going capture candids of all  my handmade projects living in their natural environment – my house!

Let’s just say I hope this doesn’t mean I have to clean the whole house from top to bottom this month. And maybe I’ll surprise you with some of my handiwork.