It's been a long while since I posted. I don't want to neglect this poor blog, though. Nothing new, exciting, or creative has been happening around here.

I need to take down the Christmas tree before New Year's (the tradition in my family). Don't want to drag the old year into the new year. Or maybe that was just a ploy my mom used to get us to take down the tree in a timely manner.

I've just been spending time with my sweet boy and enjoying every minute of it. There will be time for all that creative stuff a little later on!

Merry Christmas!

Here's hoping this Christmas is relaxing, meaningful, and memorable for each and every one of you!


Picture above of our Christmas card this year.

Stamped Christmas Card


A few weeks ago, my sister and I attended a card making class. We did have a lot of fun even though we aren't very experienced stampers. This card is mainly stamped with a few fun additions of puff paint and glitter glue.

The outside of the card reads, "cold twigs-warm hearts!"

The inside tag reads, "The chill of winter is warmed by friendship."

It took us two Saturdays and about six hours to complete ten cards. Much more work than I ever thought!

Third Annual Bake-A-Thon

We had a lot of fun this year at our third annual Bake-A-Thon. It was held at my house again. Before we started baking, we filled up on a lot of snacks; meaatballs, pistachio torta with bread, and monkey bread. Who can bake when they're hungry?

This year, we made Rum Balls, Snickerdoodles, Turtles (pretzel, Rolo, and pecan), Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies, Martha Washington Candy, and the obligatory Cornflake Holly Clusters.

Little evidence remains of the six hours we spent in the kitchen.

Previous years can be seen here and here.

No Longer Lazy

Our Christmas tree which we have owned for 10 years. I still remember how beautiful it was when we put it in our first house together. It was a pretty expensive Christmas tree at the time but we lucked out and bought it at Michael's (back before they caught on that using a 50% coupon on Christmas trees isn't such a good idea...for them). It's extremely difficult to get a good picture of this tree because it is so tall and reaches all the way to the floor. Presents won't fit under it just around it. Notice I haven't wrapped any presents?


The gingerbread house was completed last night. No help from my family was even offered. All Owen wanted to do was watch and eat the candy.

I was going to post a picture of our Christmas tree but the camera has a dead battery and I'm too lazy to hook it up to the cord at this moment.

I was going to post a picture of the gingerbread house we made last night, but unfortuntately it isn't quite presentable. (Read as incomplete)

Instead, I went to my last quilting class which was a little Christmas party. It was held at my teacher's house in historic downtown. She has a beautiful home. We dined on homemade vegetable beef soup, cheese and crackers, homemade cranberry orange sherbert, and cookies. The food was fabulous and the company was too. We were able to "ooh" and "ahh" over all her fine quilts she has made through the years. She is really a remarkable quilter. I only hope one day to become half the quilter she is. Her eye for fabric and color choice astounds me.

Our "advanced" class starts in February and I am hoping that my "Winter Fun Quilt" and "Batik Mystery Quilt" are pulled together by then. I'm not the only student a little behind. Our teacher says you can have up to 19 WIP (works-in-progress) but not 20. I only have two and I already feel overloaded.

I'm not going to stress about it, however. Our anuual bake-a-thon is this Saturday and I'm looking forward to that. Tommy's second work Christmas party is tomorrow night and Thursday is our Bunco Christmas party. I'm just going to concentrate on enjoying the season and if things get done...well, that's a plus.

Thanks for all the sweet comments on the Christmas stamps. They were fun to attempt and it gave me a little reprieve from the never-ending Christmas quilt.

I should be preparing and crafting for Christmas, but I just can't seem to get into the spirit. Our tree is finally up...and decorated. O is extremely curious and loves to point his finger at each and every lightbulb.

I have spent the last few days planning a surprise birthday party for my old(er) sister. Which, by the time this is posted, won't be a surprise anymore.

I still have plenty of Christmas shopping to do. I am just not in the mood to face the crowds.

Carved Christmas Stamps

I admit (and you can see) that I am not an artist. But, I enjoyed making these stamps. I bought the kit from Michael's and it was much easier than I thought it would be.

They're not beautiful, but they'll do!