Capture the Details

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a safe, healthy and happy 2010. See you next year! :-)

would you believe....

...it's time to start thinking about hearts and romance????

We haven't even hit the new year, but as with any retail establishment, you have to be working a season ahead. I have slowly started to add some Valentine items to my Etsy shop....

^ valentine flash cards

^ heart magnets (from recycled packaging) I have several of these sets available, each set different.

Feel the love. :-)

photo recap of Christmas

I must warn you that if you come to my house right now you will be taking your life into your own hands if you try to enter my living room. One word: Legos. That is all I will say about that! :-)

A picture recap of Christmas for my family.....

The kids on Christmas morning, including my furry brown child who had to inspect things and see if anything was for her....

After our morning at home we went to Amy's house to be with Todd's side of the family for the rest of the day. We had a delicious ham dinner and then opened our gifts. Lily, Sarah, Gabe and Ben all got handmade quilted pillows from their Tante Kimmy. This picture got a bit dark, but you can see the boys got blue and the girls got pink/red....

Lily loved her pillow...

She also loved having her Uncle Todd there and took every single gift she could find and gave it to him whether it was for Todd or not. He had quite a stack going. When she ran out of gifts she started giving him the plastic food from her new play kitchen...

We had quite a mess going....

And luckily we had two great paper-picker-uppers, Ben and Gabe (who wore his new bike helmet most of the time and carried his new Bakugan clip LOL)...

 
Sarah got a small digital camera and was also taking pictures....

The morning of the 26th we got together with my side of the family for a brunch and to open gifts....

We got a few family photos in.... Me, Todd, Sarah and Ben.....

My brother Eston, his wife Kim and their eight kids, Eston, Emily, Evan, Eli, Elliott, Elizabeth, Eva and Ezekiel.....

My mom and stepdad with my brother Doug, his wife Leann and their two kids, Adam and Aubrie....

My stepdad, or Grandad as we call him, told all the kids that he needed a hug from each of them if they wanted to get their presents and my brother Eston charged over and gave him a huge hug.... we all cracked up of course....

Benny got a cool shirt....

 
Sarah got the MP3 player that she wanted....

And I got a bunch of other photos of my nieces and nephews - they love to pose for Aunt Patty :-)

Elliott...

Elizabeth.....

Evan.....

Adam and Aubrie.....

And finally, a shot of the group of 'DS-ers'. They all sat together playing Mario Cart on their Nintendo DS...

 
 
So now we have the week off from school and a bunch of new toys to play with. Time to relax and unwind after the hustle and bustle leading up to Christmas. I hope Santa was good to you all! :-)
  
 
 

it's official!

Merry Christmas, everyone!   :-)

idea for all you moms that love your child's artwork

Scan in your child's drawing and create a personalized gift with it!

I needed to make a gift card holder for Ben's teacher and I had a metal gift card container that I saved from last year to use. I was inspired by artwork that Ben drew on a paper bag at school the other day....

 
I love snowmen, and they are both cute, but I especially love that jaunty little guy standing with his one hand on his hip and his other hand out, ready to catch an incoming snowball. (Sarah wanted to know who stands like that to catch something! LOL Jaunty little snowmen - that's who!)

I scanned in the paper bag and edited the artwork so I only had Mr. Jaunty Snowman. I then reduced his size and made a pattern with him. I cut the printed pattern to size and adhered it to the front of the metal gift card container (the bow was already on, I just slid my paper underneath).

I added another piece to the back of the container giving credit to Ben as the illustrator...

And on the inside, I put the gift card in its place and added a larger, single Mr. Jaunty Snowman with a holiday greeting and space for Ben to sign his name. I also thought it would be cute to add a 3-D incoming snowball, so I cut a tiny styrofoam ball in half and adhered it to the lid...

 
I am happy with how it turned out and I love that it's personalized with Ben's artwork.  :-)

the value of homemade

Sarah has two girlfriends at school that she is especially close to and she wanted to make them each a Christmas gift. Sarah loves felt (she has even asked me if she could open an Etsy shop selling felt items) and she wanted to make both of her friends an ornament. I told her she needed to draw up a template and I'd help her from there.

Sadie loves dolphins and Falisity loves penguins, so after Sarah drew the templates and the felt shapes were cut out, I did the sewing and Sarah did the stuffing and accessorizing.....

 
( Sarah loves penguins, too, and now that she made this one as a gift she wants to make one for herself!)

I am so proud of her - the shapes were very well drawn and she did a great job. I'm glad she is learning the value of a special, made with love, homemade gift. :-)

368 days until Santa arrives!

That's what the little chalk board sitting on the back of my stove says...

I've been counting down the days for the kids, and my husband, sigh, he has to do his thing. He's right. It is 368 days until Santa comes - next year. This started when the countdown was at 8 days. I came out in the morning to make breakfast and laughed when I saw he added a '3' to the front and made it '38' days.

Gotta love him. :-)

idea for gift card holder

Sarah's teacher loves Dunkin Donuts coffee and I picked up a gift card for Sarah to give to her teacher as a little Christmas present. I used a library pocket as a holder for the gift card. Sarah can write her note on the library card. The library card and the gift card fit perfectly inside the pocket.

 
I found the perfect ribbon at Kmart (I love Martha Stewart's products!) and it's appropriate for a teacher because the pattern is rulers - how cute! I stitched the ribbon to the top of the card....

I added a Santa that I cut from patterned paper and hung him from a bead chain on the card...

I used the Santa paper (from My Mind's Eye) on the back on the pocket to keep the project unified....

The front of the pocket has an accent of metal letters (from Making Memories) spelling out 'joy'. They slide onto a piece of ribbon (American Crafts)....

The word 'december' was cut from a magazine and then I used a packing tape transfer to get it onto the front of the envelope.

The library card is stamped with a Christmas greeting (stamp from EK Success) and the date and has room for Sarah to write a little note to her teacher and sign her name....

And, of course, if you know me by now, I always have to do a little somethin' somethin' on the back....

 
Ho! Ho! Ho! :-)

okay. got it.

Is anyone else out there feeling the frazzle dazzle of the Christmas season??? Getting stressed out by the mile-long to-do lists? Just wondering. :-)

I will admit I'm feeling the frazzle dazzle.

I think that's why I was sent a message. I'm scurrying around here doing the everyday laundry and dishes and the daily 'pick ups and put aways' while also trying to do the Christmas baking and decorating and shopping and wrapping and gift making. It leads to holiday

As I was doing the dishes this afternoon I got my message... Stop. Take a breather. Take a break. Look around you and enjoy all that you have been given. And how, you may ask, was this message delivered?

By this little sparrow. He sat on the window ledge outside my kitchen sink taking a nap, and I thought How can he afford to do that when it's so cold and he should be busy eating seeds and keeping warm???

Then it occurred to me. The lightbulb lit above my head. If this little bird can pause for a few minutes and collect himself and not freak out because there is only so much time in a day to get his things done, maybe I should do the same. This little bird will still be here tomorrow and he will still have his list of things to accomplish, but he will be a happier bird because he paced himself and didn't worry. OK. Got it. I need to allow myself to

 

Close my eyes and be still. Take in the smells... cookies baking, a fresh Christmas tree, bayberry candles burning. Take in the sounds.... holiday music playing softly in the background, the kids peeling the plastic wrap off their candy canes, Benny tapping his foot on the floor as he lays there writing more things on his Christmas list (LOL). Take in the sights... the glass container filled with Christmas cards from family and friends, a beautiful tree decorated mostly by Sarah and Ben, a pretty pink poinsettia on top of a cabinet in the living room, our two nativity sets laid out just so by Sarah.

Relax. Enjoy the season. Let go of the guilt (that's a biggie for me... don't know why I carry such a load of guilt about everything). Message received and taken to heart.

Even Sophie gets it. LOL!   buh bye frazzle dazzle....

:-)

a few new things at babes in a blanket

Leann added some new goodies to her store. Some scarves.....

 
This ruffled pink one can be found here.

This really cool twisted scarf is here.

I love this yarn! I have a cowl that Leann made from it and it is so soft. Info on scarf here.

 
What a fun scarf! Great for a child with the bright colors! Info here.

This idea is really cute - a baby blanket for a baby doll - and Leann can make a matching pair... One for your child and one for her baby doll! She made one of her popular, best-selling multi-color blankets and has it available here.

Adorable! Please stop by Leann's store and check things out. :-)