Handmade Gifts

I made a whole batch of these cute little bags for Christmas gifts this year -- then filled them with yummy dark chocolate bars.  I taught myself how to embroider using the embroidery tutorial on purlbee.com (love their blog!), and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be.  It's actually addictive -- I want to do more.  I had picked up a bunch of different sized embroidery hoops at thrift stores over the past year -- it seems like all antique and thrift stores have these in excess!

I did most of the embroidery while playing "school" with the girls.  They have been lining up the stuffed animals (and their mommy) on the couch and taking turns being the kindergarten teacher.  We moved their easel from the basement to the living room and it has provided hours of fun for the "teachers" and their students!

 I got the idea for these zippered bags from this Etsy shop.  Lots of other bloggers have been making cute pennant quilts/bags, too -- I love this one here, too!  I wanted to make one like this for our front door, but ran out of time this Christmas.

Last weekend we visited Grandma and Grandpa, to relax, have fun, and work on some Christmas preparations. My mom and I made chocolate covered peanut butter candy, and dark chocolate/white chocolate peppermint bark -- delicious! And the girls made gingerbread houses with kits that my mom had bought them. They had so much fun!

Way back Wednesday

5 Years Ago . . . .

Holly

                                                        Lexi

                                          My other baby (kitty Dusseldorf)

Shutterfly Card

Gorgeous Gift Tag Holiday Thank You 3x5 folded card

Click here to browse Shutterfly's holiday card collection.

View the entire collection of cards.

Yum!

I guess it's pretty obvious who helped with the cookies this year!  I was thinking that at age 5 the girls would be more directable -- I requested "lighter on the sprinkles!" multiple times before I gave up.  Who doesn't love sprinkles?!

And this is my favorite holiday recipe, a candy cane cheesecake.  Delicious!
It has a thick oreo cookie crust, peppermint flavored cheesecake, and crushed candy canes pressed into the top.  It's actually pretty easy to make, and the girls like to help me unwrap, eat, and crush the candy canes for the top.  Fun!

Christmas Quilts

Last Christmastime I ordered a quilt kit -- a Christmas tree quilt using the Sandy Gervais Merry and Bright Fabric.  I loved the fabric so much, and had so much left over, that I also made a square within a square quilt top out of the leftover fabric.  Halfway through I realized that I didn't have nearly enough for a queen sized quilt top, so I hunted down more of this now out of print fabric on Etsy and Ebay.  And this December, I finally finshed quilting the top.  One of our cats just LOVED the few days that this quilt was on the dining room table -- a very cozy spot to rest!

Art Imitates Life

Note the pink & white striped cast!

Crying when she broke her leg

Lexi has been drawing and coloring a lot lately -- there's not much else she can do in that HUGE cast!

Here are some family photos, both real and handmade:

Thanksgiving Day

Holly's family photo, we're on a Hay Ride

Lexi's family photo (what do you think of Brian's space suit?!)

Dining Room Art -- Before and After

Before

                                                      
                                                          After

I decided to change the wall art to give us a little more color.  I left the black and white photos behind the new ones, to change back someday!  I'm really liking the new, brighter look!