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Handmade with Love

This year I added some homemade flair to my gift-giving spirit...

I made some infused salts for my Dad. Find a course or sea salt you like, mix with herbs and allow it to sit for a week before gift-giving. If you're looking for ideas, here are a few I made:

Hungarian Paprika

Citrus (Satsuma Orange and Meyer Lemon)

Cracked Caraway Seeds

Crushed Sage & Rosemary

Provide instructions for use including information what types of food each salt would be perfect on (for example, strong herbs are good on meats, citrus-y salts are great on seafood).

Present in glass jars and embellish with pretty labels and ribbon as you see fit!

I also knitted my sister a scarf this year... with a traditional fringed edge...

 

The colors are faded in this photo... it's really vibrant in person!

So... What did your crafty gift-giving brain get up to this holiday season?

xxoo!

Simple and Rustic Gift Wrap Idea!

So... I unfortunately can't share all the things I've been working on lately. Because I've been busy working on Christmas presents for some family members. And I know the fam reads the blog. So! I'll just have to wait until after the holidays to share my recent work with y'all.

I can, however, share my favorite gift wrapping idea for this season... kraft paper cut-outs!

 

 

I got this idea by perusing MS's website for creative gift wrap ideas.

Want to make your own little creations?

It's uber simple... 

MATERIALS

Colorful or patterned tissue paper

Plain white or kraft packaging paper

Xacto knife

Pencil and eraser

DIRECTIONS

First, wrap your gift in your choice of tissue paper.

Then, wrap your gift in your packaging paper WITHOUT taping it... just crease along the edges so you know where the paper will sit when it finally covers the gift.

Select a symmetrical shape - trees are a great choice! Decide where you would like your cutout.

Trace half the design on your packaging paper in pencil.

Use your knife to cut out this design and then remove the pencil marks with your eraser.

Wrap your gift in the packaging paper, taking care not to rip the cutout.

The final touch is creasing the cutout so it flaps up.

Ta Daaaaa!! You can use the flap as a "to/from" label or just leave it blank. 

I really loved this look this year... and I even made a cutout especially for one of my brothers-in-law who is a big UT fan...

 

If you are afraid of coming up with your designs freehand, you can use a stencil - maybe even a cookie cutter - to trace your initial design idea onto your paper. :)

 

Happy gift wrapping to all you elves out there!

Being an elf

Just checking in briefly... I've been busy being an elf this week - seeking out gifts, buying gifts, wrapping gifts... yay!

I'm hoping to be finished with all this holiday craziness by this weekend. And then I can focus all my efforts on crafting the rest of the holidays away!

:)

xxoo!

-h-

New Reindeer Look...

I sported a new look last week when my sister and I started decorating the house...

 

At some point I forgot I had them on and almost wore my antlers out to our sushi dinner that night! Woopsie! Thank goodness I realized before we left the house! :)

-h-

Tipsy Wednesday - Three Tips for Looking Picture Perfect!

Want to look fabulous in your holiday portraits and pics this year? Here are a few tips a photographer once told me - and I've tried to remember them each time someone snaps a candid shot... because no one wants to look bigger than they are... or get caught with their "bad side" towards the shutter!

Always shift your body weight to your "back" leg - or the leg that is furthest from the camera.

Never lift your chin up. Always keep your head level or pull your chin slightly down.

Always place one of your hands on your hip - believe it or not, this quick move helps to make the body look slimmer!

Finally... if you feel intimidated by cameras, it will show in your pictures. Just relax and smile!

And if you're going to be taking black & white portraits, wear reds and greens - not whites or blacks - and avoid patterns. 

Have fun recording all your special holiday memories this year! If you want to apply any of these tips while making your own digital photo holiday cards, check out this great site from Martha Stewart that has some creative ideas for your family's holiday photo-cards!

xxoo!

The Feast

As promised, here are pics of our Thanksgiving Spread... everything was delish!

 

On the menu:

Fried Turkey (thanks to my hunny)

Pineapple-Mustard Glazed Ham

Herbed Roasted New Potatoes

Roasted Carrots, Parsnips and Onion with Thyme

Steamed Brussel Sprouts

Lemony Green Beans

Candied Yams (YUM!)

Cranberry Jelly

Assorted Rolls

 

Aaaaand... for dessert...

 

Our dessert spread included:

Jessica's Homemade-from-scratch Pumpkin Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie

Pumpkin Loaf

Buttered Sweet Potato Pierogies

British Mini Mince Pies

 Coffee and Lattes made to order

Seriously? It was AWESOME. Everyone pitched in and it was a real team effort. Here are the guys "manning the turkey fryer" (aka chit-chatting). :)

 

To set the table, I ran a wide cut of brown kraft paper down the center and topped it with a bamboo runner. I picked up some inexpensive red chargers from Target and a set of fake fall leaves from World Market. To make the napkin rings, I twisted together the wire stems of two faux leaves and then simply bent the leaves around our red napkins.

Our colorful fiesta-ware topped the chargers and we served most of the dishes in my colored mixing/serving bowls. The whole thing ended up looking quite festive!

The one thing I realized when we were about to dive in is we REALLY need to put something on the walls in our dining room. They looked absolutely BARREN, particular in comparison to the table-top!

 

And... there you have it! A successful, relaxing Thanksgiving Day with friends and family. I'll probably share some of the recipes with you this week.

xxoo!

Pics from the Holiday Week

Happy Cyber Monday everyone!

I'm coming back from a very relaxing and laid-back Thanksgiving break. I'm hoping you're doing the same. My sister, her hubs and her two dogs drove up to spend a few days with us last week- which was inexplicably awesome.

Riley tolerated their dogs fairly well during the visit... but he definitely sounded like an old man most of the time. He would sigh and growl and give a few grumpy "humphs" to make sure we knew he did NOT approve of having visitors!

Here he is in a red fleece-lined hoodie Ryan picked up at Old Navy last week (pre-grooming session)...

 

And... here are Amber & Hyde. They are seriously the sweetest - but Riley just can't see it.

 

 

 
My sister has pics of the Thanksgiving spread, which I'll share later this week.

Other things we accomplished the past few days... we started decorating the hizzy for Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

A huge thank you to Lindsay for helping kick start our holiday decorating bonanza! I truly LOVE the wall words we picked up on sale last year at Target after the holidays. They were easy to put up - but unfortunately are only a one-use thing. Bummer.

I also picked up on my crochet and knitting projects (which sat unattended for way too long these past few months). I took advantage of having my crochet coach (aka my sister) being in town. I asked her all my questions and picked back up where I had left off. Gotta love that.

I was very very sad to say goodbye to my visiting family on Saturday - it seemed like they had come and gone before I knew it. But... we did kick off the holidays with a bang. Next stop? Christmas shopping... argh. I love getting things for other people... but I hate the process and the crowds.

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...

xxoo!

Warm Fuzzies!

Nothing like waking up to your house alarm blaring. Ahhh... Mondays.

One of my sisters (and her hubs and dogs) are coming into town for Thanksgiving this year - and I'm uber excited! So we've been planning our Turkey Day menu, cleaning the house, preparing the guest room, and tying up loose ends on tasks and projects we started in recent weeks.

Three cheers for productivity!!!! :)

* * * * *

While doing some shopping this weekend, I found myself whistling holiday tunes without realizing it. And while I start to consciously prepare for the holidays, I can't help but think of all the simple things each of us can do to provide some relief and happiness to others. I believe that is truly what makes this time of year feel magical...

If you want to do something to warm someone's heart this year, there are a lot of options. I've included some ideas here for you...

ONE: Collect Plastic

Gather plastic bags from your house and your neighbors' houses to donate to your local food bank. They are always in need of plastic bags to package up all the food they give to those in need. If you have any food you can donate too, that would be great!

If you want to get your neighborhood involved, visit my previous post for an idea of small flyers you can distribute to get everyone to save their bags for you to pick up and donate. :)

TWO: Give Your Time

Give some of your time by finding a volunteer opportunity near you. There are soup kitchens, food banks, children's hospitals, hospices and more! The needs of all of these groups are so varied, you are bound to find something that will work for you. There are a lot of websites out there that will help you find an opportunity that you'll enjoy and that will make the most out of any special skills you may have. VolunteerMatch is one and Serve.gov is another.

 
THREE: Run for a Cause

Sign up for a charity walk or run! The money raised for these events go to really great causes. And event coordinators ensure participants have a really great time while they're there. AND... you always get a goodies bag to take home with you! Not a bad deal if you ask me. A simple Google search will find upcoming runs and walks in your area. :)

FOUR: Save a Life

No need to don your super-hero spandex for this one. Simply donate your blood or sign up to be a bone marrow donor! This is really giving the gift of life... and I can't think of a better way to help someone else. Visit www.givelife.org for more information... I really love the banner I saw when I recently visited the site... "Starve a Vampire. Donate Blood." Ha! Very cute, especially with all the vampire frenzy going on right now!

If you are interested in joining the bone marrow registry, visit the DKMS website for more information. The initial commitment is simply a cheek swab! They will even send the swab kit to you. If you ever match anyone who is looking for a donor and you still wish to donate, you can either donate your blood or your marrow itself. Really an amazing thing that could save someone's life.

 

FIVE: Gifts that Give

When purchasing gifts this year, consider gifts that automatically give when you make a purchase.

For example, Feed Projects offers a variety of merchandise that, when purchased, will help feed the hungry. All of the money goes towards this cause... and you get some really nice merch in exchange! A pretty good deal if you ask me!

The purchase of the original feed bag feeds one child for an ENTIRE YEAR! Wow. 

 

Another cool one is the Kenya bag (which I LOVE). It feeds 2 children for a year:

 

 And for those of you who have or know kiddles, they now have this adorable bear...

 

I love it all. Please consider these as options to give to friends... and their bags make great gifts for "green" friends who who are avoiding plastic bags.

Another great company under this "umbrella" is Tom's Shoes.

Every time a pair of Tom's Shoes are purchased, a pair is donated to a child in need. Incredible. And if you don't dig any of their shoesies, they have other merch that you can purchase... and a pair of shoes will still be donated! LOVE IT!

 

AND MORE...

There are, of course, countless things you could do - these are just a few ideas. If any of you live in the Columbia area, the Salvation Army is doing Angel Trees in a few local malls again this year. You select the name of a child from the tree, purchase the gift they are asking for, and return both to the tree. It's a really neat way to make this Christmas a special one for a child in need.

I really hope you all are doing well - and are able to spend quality time with friends and family this week. Ciao for now!

Hot diggity dog!

So, our first Halloween in the house was pretty fun!

We had a BUNCH of trick-or-treat'ers... I was really surprised! And there were some really cute costumes. My favorite costume of the evening was a very vibrant and colorful Rainbow Brite - a girl after my own heart!

 I ended up getting dressed up in a simple costume, since we were staying at home. I painted a large yellow circle on a white shirt, wore white shorts, devil horns and red eye makeup.

Can you guess what I went as? A DEVILED EGG!! :)

We also let Riley dress up for fifteen minutes or so. I took it off of him as soon as he started to sulk. But it was cute while it lasted!

 

 
 

After we turned out the porch lights and had a bite to eat, we settled in to watch The Orphan. It was... well... not as scary as I'd expected... and the acting was top notch! I ended up enjoying it, which is surprising for me - I'm usually not one for horror movies.

  

I hope you all had excellent Halloween weekends and enjoyed the "extra" hour!

 

xxoo!

-h-

Masquerading Wine Bottles

My Halloween present to ewe + yours...

 

Festive wine bottle labels for your Halloween party!

 

First up....

 

 

   

Next...

 

 
 

And finally...

 

 

Enjoy!

Happy tricking + treating!!