YUM

Look what my sister Carianne sent to us! I LOVED every single thing about it, the packaging especially, and it all tasted great!!

white christmas

Paper chains galore

We did it! It took lots of taping and cutting, and cutting and stapling, and cutting, but we did it! Buddy the elf would be proud. We feel quite festive when we go in this room.

New comforter

This year I knew just what I wanted to get my husband as a gift! I am really happy with how it all looks together. (Even though that one painting is crooked.) :) I added the "belly button" to the white pillow for an extra touch!

Book paper, paper chains

We made these book paper, paper chains just today. This is just the beginning I hope to fill the room to over flowing in true Buddy the elf style. Below is a little story to explain the "Christmas'y" posts that will likely continue for the next week.

I was raised in a very christian family where my parents would try hard to create a magical but reverent Christmas. In fact, my mom announced one year when I was young, that Santa was coming on New Years Eve from then on. We all went along with it and even embraced it. For example on Christmas Eve we acted out the nativity story, and on New Years Eve we would put out milk and cookies. We exchanged home made gifts from each other on Christmas. Then on New Years we received presents from Santa, usually store bought from after Christmas sales. Now were grown up and we're still continuing the tradition in one way or another. Now as we're getting ready for New Years we pull out all the stops and go overboard! I love it! Thanks for letting me share one of my unique traditions with you.

Girls bead kit

I have been looking everywhere for wooden die cut beads like this for forever. I finally found some necklaces at a novelty toy store but they were quite expensive. Then lo and behold I found these two adorable bead kits, and at the dollar store of all places! I just love the dollar store for reasons like this.

Vanila "Cocoa" with peppermint

Here is a great holiday drink I sort of made up the other morning. It is very yummy! Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa has a lot of flavors and one great one is French Vanilla. I thought I would prefer actual chocolate over this but when peppermint is added it is really delicious. I'm not a big fan of peppermint flavor it's always been a bit too strong for me. But when it's mixed with the creamy French Vanilla it transforms! In fact I am officially addicted!!
All you need is hot water and two mini peppermint candy canes. And of course French vanilla hot "cocoa". I added lots and lots of spoonfuls of this because it has sort of a mild flavor. This makes it very creamy! Oh and don't forget marshmallows!

When you stir the candy canes in, your yummy creamy colored drink turns PINK! :)

Marshmallows add the final touch! And a great extra creamy flavor.

I think I'd better go and make myself another cup! Yum yum yum! Hope you try it out it really is lovely! And aren't those pearly white candy canes just the prettiest?! They lost their stripes when I stirred them into the drink. Have a happy vanilla peppermint day, and a Merry Christmas!

I "heart" Peppermint

I love the look of peppermint against this blue Swiss dot fabric backdrop. :)

New tree

We are finishing our attic to be a master bedroom. This is our new little 4 ft tree we added to get it feeling more like Christmas up there. I love it! I stare at it all the time and pretend the rest if the room is finished and worthy of photographing. He he, Happy holidays!





(P.S. the tree + ornaments + candy canes all added up to 22$!!!!)

Wrapping things up

I have been wrapping up a storm these past few days and I just wanted to share some of my favorite ones.

How to make a pom pom garland

Today I an idea for making her a pom pom garland. I thought about making one by threading the pom poms with a needle but I foresaw the pom poms sliding around on the string, and I wanted them to stay put. Then I realized that by crocheting them onto a chain stitch I eliminated that problem. Here is a little tutorial for all of you since its so darn easy!

HOW TO CROCHET A POM POM GARLAND
USING THE CHAIN STITCH

All the tools you need for this project are:
crochet thread
1.25mm crochet hook
pom poms

1. To start, you just chain a few stitches .
2. To add a pom pom, you poke the hook right through the middle of the pom pom then grab the thread and pull it right through the pom pom and start chain stitching again. (It's basically the same principle for adding beads to your crochet projects.)
3. To space them apart be sure and do a lot of chain stitches between the pom poms. (I didn't count the stitches I just added a pom pom when I felt it needed another one.)
4. Just keep repeating chain stitching and adding pom poms for as long as you want depending how long you want your garland to be.

I love how it turned out! In fact I love it so much I made two!

One with a specific "Christmasy" color scheme and the other with random colors.

Hope you have as much fun making these as I did!

sugar plum fairy

This girl is so cute I think I'll have to do another fairy eventually. She was a custom order from my sister Daryllyn so she is already sold. Just wanted to share! :)

our cookie house

This year we had a really fun time making our graham cracker and candy houses! We usually have a "pot luck" party and have all the guests bring their two favorite candy's, but this year we were too lazy to invite anyone. It was still a lot of fun!