IS IT HERE YET?

The exhaustion has set in. I am counting down to tommorrow at 5. That is when my guests are due to arrive and whatever isn't done by then isn't going to get done and I will just have to accept that. Until then I will be assuming the role of crazed mad woman.
In between wrapping, cleaning, some minor cooking and general craziness I found time to make some tassles for gifts. Thanks to The Nester http://www.thenester.com and her Tassle Ebook.. They were so easy and such fun to make. It is truly addicting. I think I actually dreamed about tassles last night.

I found the Santa ornaments at Crate and Barrel. The other supplies were from Michaels. I am not sure which I am giving and which I am keeping. I'm having a hard time deciding. I hope to make more for a party I have on Monday but that will have to wait until after the big day.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

I MADE IT MYSELF

I always like to do some sort of crafty project as Christmas presents. This year I decided on these cute embroidery hands. I saw this in the May issue of Country Living and it's from a fellow blogger myplumpudding.blogspot.com I will have to go ck out her site after I'm done posting.
I took the embroidery hoop and painted it the color I wanted. I traced the kids hands with pencil onto what I guess they call embroidery fabric. Then I started stitching and this is how they came out. Def not perfect but very cute.

This one is for my Mom And this one I did for my girlfriend. It's purple, the picture doesn't show the color very good.

Really easy, really inexpensive (got all the supplies from ACMOORE) and I hope a real keepsake.

I hope to do one for myself but that will be a winter project.

CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOUR

I thought I would join in The Nester's House Tour and show some of my decorations. I had hoped to do this earlier but the day got away from me so here I am as the house is getting dark taking pictures. Not the best but they will have to do!



Santa greets you as you walk in the front door. This is my entryway.

I got this large white container at Target over the summer. I think it's a beverage holder. I love changing it up every season. Summer had lemons, Fall had pumpkins. One of my favorite items!

We don't have a fireplace and mantle to hang our stockings so a few years ago I saw something similiar and thought it might work. Found this ladder at a craft fair. It does the job.

Every year Girlie girl sits on Santa's lap. I wanted to display in a nice way so I bought some inexpensive frames and fabric. The fabric is hot glued to the paper that they frame came with and he picture is taped. So simple and I love the results.

This is a secretary that I got from Craigslist over the summer. This is def my favorite piece of furniture. I have found that the more stuff I cram into the shelves the better it looks.

This is my break front in the dining room. I ordered the BELIEVE from a friend who is doing the vinyl words. Still waiting for a few snowflakes to finish it off. The large picture is actually tin and the picture is magnet so I can change them out with the seasons. I have to do a future post on this piece. It's just to cool.

Kitchen shelf that I change up every season/holiday.

Little cabinet in the kitchen. I just got the Santa and Mrs Claus this year. They are kissing salt and pepper shakers from Gooseberry Patch. So cute.

Here's a view from the hallway into the living room. I'm loving my red furniture with Christmas.

I didn't get a good picture of the tree so will have to show that on another post.

Now I am going to attempt to link up to The Nester. Wish me luck, I am completely computer illiterate

BETTER THAN SCRATCH

It's a rainy day here and girlie girl announced she wanted to make Gingerbread cookies. I have never made them from scratch and didn't think today would be the best day to make my first attempt. There is so much still to be done. More shopping, decorating, cooking and at some point some cleaning. Wanted to keep things nice and easy to insure a happy experience.
I found this at the grocery store and figured it was worth a try. So easy!!!
We rolled out the dough and used some cookie cutters we had. She especially liked the mini ones. We had lots of fun decorating with sugar glitter. Let me just tell you that stuff gets everywhere. I'll be cleaning that up still in January.

Yummy right out of the oven

Here's the finished product. They are pretty good tasting.

This week we'll try the sugar cookies!!

Hope everyone is relaxing and gearing up for the last full week before Christmas.