Happy Holidays

I wish all of you the merriest Christmas and happiest of holidays.
Thank you for your kindness and encouragement.



May your holiday season be filled with love & peace.
I'll be back next week.

xoxo

cookies!

We have been crazy bakers here the past few weeks preparing cookies for Christmas gifts. In total we made six different kinds: lime meltaways, sugar cookies, chocolate pecan drop cookies, madeline's, peanut butter surprise cookies and chocolate ginger cookies.
The lime meltaways are amazing.
The sugar cookies took the longest because we made a huge batch, used a cookie press and decorated them. They are also the prettiest. I was very inspired by the sugar cookie spread in Blueprint and used some of their ideas.
The chocolate pecan drop cookies were originally supposed to be toffee chips but, we had a hard time finding them and there was not enough time to order them but, they are so yummy anyway.
The madeline's are very simple and cake like and were dipped in lemon icing.
The peanut butter surprise cookies are peanut butter with chocolate peanut butter cups in the middle.
The chocolate ginger cookies are my least favorite (but I think that's just my taste buds) and I'm not sure I'll be gifting these because their size is not working with the boxes I bought.
All in all it was a lot of work. A lot. I hope the receivers like cookies!
I may have to host a tea party to finish up the leftovers.

angora baby booties

I knit the angora baby booties from Last Minute Knitted Gifts recently for the little one due in a few week's time..okay around 8 or 9 but, you never know. I've got to hop to it in the new year and start preparing for this little girl.
They are so soft and were easy to knit. I never knit with angora before these and wow, I just love the way it felt in my hands. I also thought the pattern was interesting to work.

shake your bon bon

We made some homemade chocolates for Christmas gifts this year with this beautiful mold tray from NordicWare. We experimented with a few fillings like peanut butter and peppermint candy cane, chopped pecans and we also made plain but, next time I'd like to get a little fancier.
I used both milk chocolate and dark/semi-sweet. I'm a dark chocolate fan myself.
They are so lovely to behold. I could almost fancy myself a baker or chocolate maker.

hats for christmas

I made matching hats for Mick and Little M. The only difference is that Little M's got a pom pom on top.
It was such an ordeal making Mick's hat and it really shouldn't have been. The hat was made three times. The first time I used the wrong length circular needle and it came out huge and ridiculous. The second time I made the hat I don't know what went wrong but it was still big and looked like it was meant for a college freshman frat boy who listens to a lot of Bob Marley if you know what I mean. That's just not Mick's style so the third time I just made it smaller and used a rib edge instead of a garter stitch edge.
The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and I used Manos del Uruguay yarn.
I can't wait to see them wearing them together and take a picture.

red button wreath

This is the other button wreath I made. I was able to pick up a few more reds from the store a week and a half ago. I expanded on my definition of red. Originally, I was just going to do true red but, with a wreath this size I had to add other shades. At first I wasn't sure but, I actually really like the way this one turned out as well.

In other news, I am still sick...so so frustrating to be sick for a week (how much longer?) right before the holidays because there is still much to do and on top of that I've been having a horrible time sleeping. Ugh!

lucia dolls

In honor of Santa Lucia Day, I made these sweet dolls which I have out on display today.
I would have loved to try to make some saffron buns partly because any excuse to consume baked goods is fine by me but, I am still sick which is why I am glad I made these last week. I did consume a lovely decaf cappuccino and if I can get my hands on these
I will because they have totally replaced my former double chocolate milano addiction
The kit for these came from the lovely and talented Alicia and I see she started a Flickr group for them as well so I'm heading over there now and will add mine. I really enjoyed painting and putting these together.

yes, there is a baby in my tummy

I seem to have been forgetting or neglecting or whatever you wish to call it the fact that I am having a baby in 2 months. Not that this little one is going to let me forget. I mean seriously this baby moves, kicks, punches like crazy...like non-stop. I hardly get to sleep most days. I think she really enjoys conversing with Little M this way and they both are super into Dr. Seuss these days. Sometimes I think it's a wonder I get anything done. Sometimes I think I hardly get anything done. Ms. Amelia Plum has come to the conclusion I am an insomniac but, this is not true..I just push myself hard but, to me it's never enough. I have this crazy list in my head and want to do it all and do it now. Guess what? I got sick yesterday with a cold. Nothing like getting sick to make you slow down at least a tiny bit, right?
Well, after the holidays I'm going to take it easy a little bit... maybe...I'm not promising anything but, I do need to concentrate on the baby at some point and make some cute little things for her. Maybe make something for myself too.
The other day I actually started thinking about baby announcements and started cutting little dresses out of doilies as a possible card- an idea I saw on whipup. It actually was nice to do a little stress-free, non-holiday sort of crafting...

oh christmas tree

I guess I am a bit obsessed with Christmas tree's this year. I made some more of these soft trees. They are addictive. I really like the way the felt ones turned out. I think linen would be lovely as well.

vintage decorations and a fox.....

Some scenes around the house making me happy...

-My silver tinsel tree with vintage decorations
-A shelf of bottle brush tress and more vintage- a spun cotton snowman, skiing girl, carol'ing girl, a little house and tinsel garland.
-And, a new fox from this lovely talented girl. I first saw Fern Animals at Renegade in Brooklyn and was smitten of course.


We bought our tree (Frasier) today and it's perfect. So far we have the lights up. I've decided to do this tree with all non-breakables. I'll show you soon.
I'm a bit nervous already about my new vintage glass ornaments on the silver tinsel tree here. It's been one day and so far so good but, with a 2 year old and frisky felines one can never be sure esp. when said 2 year had really started enjoying chasing said cats a lot...like too much. Anyone want a cat? I'm serious. Our boy cat Lux (black and white tuxedo) would make a lovely Christmas gift...

Shoppe Update and Holiday Decor

I've been sneaking some things into the shop over the past few weeks. Some felted items, knits and accessories. Take a look.
More onesies and a garland will be added soon.


I've also been slowly decorating over the past week and still more decorations to go up. Sweet little things like this help me wind down at night...making poms poms (these from merino wool) which I strung on baker's twine. Hot chocolate also helps. It's a stressful time no doubt and hard to get one's long list of things done. Well, it's Friday so hopefully the weekend will be a productive one and perhaps my dream will come true (someone will put a good offer on our place). A girl can dream.

Cheers!

button wreath

So, I've been a busy little Christmas elf working away on various wintertime and holiday projects. I've been blessed with naps this week and naps longer then 2 hours mind you so, I thought I should hop to it and get some work done rather then blog as much as I've wanted to. I've been sewing, knitting, painting, cookie making and yes, using the hot glue gun as you can see here.

This wreath took many hours to complete. I'm not sure how easy it is to see in the photo but, there are a lot of buttons on here. Many of them were gifted to me. I also have done a red one which I will show you soon but, I'm contemplating a few more buttons on that one and I'm in need of more red ones so I will see if I can scrounge some up.

I'm so inspired by Christmas crafts. I almost go crazy trying to keep up with all of all the inspiration out there in craftland, magazines and my head.

mr. & mrs. gnome

I finished stitching up Mr. & Mrs Gnome this weekend. They were such a pleasure to make and the directions were easy to follow. I think they are so sweet. I have them sitting cozily together on the couch.

I am still working away on the button wreath and I've started another one. It's amazing how many buttons you need for a 12" wreath. I'm feeling a little guilty about using buttons this way but, I suppose that means I'll just need to acquire more beautiful vintage buttons.

I'll show them to you when they are all pretty.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of December. We had a bit of snow here yesterday which was nice to start off the holiday season.