Home Sweet Home..

Now that the Christmas gift giving is over, I can share with you what I made for Mom and her new home.
This is an organizer I made to match her new kitchen. It hangs on an old wooden hanger that was my Grandmother's. When Mom was moving out of her old house and we were packing, I asked her if I could have it. Little did she know she was getting it back.
The front pocket is made from a pretty brown floral fabric that Mom's kitchen window treatments are made from. It had to match a little bit. I added vintage lace and buttons to the front and a personalized clothes pin.This millinery cluster is made up of velvet posies and was the perfect match. I bought this off of Ebay awhile ago and it was the perfect addition to this organizer. A little lace and a plain ivory cotton tag with tea cup finished off the decorating.
A few vintage postcards and note cards to cheer up the creation. I loved how this piece came out. It was made entirely of pieces I had in my studio from my collection of goodies. It was fun watching it come together as I added each piece. But all of you who create know what I am talking about.
Well, Happy New Year friends! My next post, I will be back with my GIVEAWAY for my 200th post and 2 Year Blogging Anniversary. Don't miss it. You will have a chance to win one of these organizers I made especially for my giveaway!

'Tis the Season for Believing

Last week after all that rain, Mom and I headed out to do some last minute Christmas shopping and there it was, the clouds in the shape of a cross. The sun lighting it up and making it even more beautiful.
It was so inspirational and a perfect reminder of what the holiday is all about. Miracles are everywhere.
Speaking of miracles, this little one was a miracle from the start and she holds all the magic and wonder that Christmas holds. She has been my little Christmas miracle this year and we can't wait for Santa to arrive.
I finished up my Christmas crafting this past week with a few more snow men and these ornaments that I made for a few family and friends.
This week I received some wonderful hand made gifts from sweet friends.
The amazing Luz made these beautiful stuffed stockings, and the card was so lovely.
The sparkly snowflakes were Shelby's favorite. She is all about the bling.
I love this snow shovel. The red feathers are great! Thanks so much Luz for thinking of us. Love you and Miss you!
Then I saw Angela on Saturday and she had this for me.
This vintage bell ornament is so pretty and reminds me of her. She decorated both sides. Thanks so much Angela, it was so good to see you!
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with family and friends. This is my last post until after the New Year. I will be back with a Give Away for celebrating both my 200th post and my 2 year anniversary blogging!! I look forward to hearing from you all in the New Year!

Many Blessings,
Tammy

Christmas Crafting and Some Christmas Cheer!

The holiday crafting has gotten off to a slow start for me this year. I finally got a little inspiration last week and made some of these frosty, chubby snowmen for my gal pals. I bought the pattern and tutorial from Dawn this past Spring during one of her tutorial sales. The pattern and tutorial worked great! Thanks, Dawn.
I made a total of 3 and 2 more are in the works for Shelby's teachers. I had already wrapped the others before I took pictures, but here is a glimpse.
This one has a linen and red damask print scarf and hat.
This snowman has a light red and ivory toille print. They are just too cute with their sparkly snow. Check out Lessons From the Nest. Dawn often runs specials for $5.00 each or buy one get one free!

Now for the Cheer Part! Our good friends and neighbors Hal and Trina invited the couples group that we get together with frequently to a Christmas dinner at their home. We were treated royally.
This was my contribution to the evening. I was asked to bring an appetizer so I made this cute tree shaped cheese ball. The recipe came out of a Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook. It was adorable and easy to make. It is covered in parsley and decorated with pine nuts and red peppers. The cheese ball is made up of cream cheese, shredded cheddar and pesto.
We sat down for dinner in Trina's lovely dining room. We started with homemade wild rice soup served in toasted bread bowls. It was delicious. It had almonds added to it and fresh swiss cheese to melt on the top. Then the second course was this wonderfully southern favorite, Shrimp and Cheese Grits. The shrimp were spicy with the creamy cheese, making it a great combination. The dessert course was awesome. (I failed to get a picture in my excitement) Trina made homemade chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse. YUM!!
Here are us girls; Trina, Me, Marla and Annette. ( I have no idea what I was doing with my hand. I look like I have to go to the bathroom. LOL!) Never a lack of laughter with this group.
Here is the Jolly group in front of Hal and Trina's tree. Thank you sooooo much Trina and Hal for having this special dinner for all of us and for sharing your home and hearts with us during this holiday season. Everything was terrific!!
Well, enough partying for now. I am off to make a few more snowmen and I also have some ornaments on the go to get finished, presents to wrap, etc. I am sure you are all busy, too. Enjoy the week everyone!

Rolling Out a Little Fun

We pulled out the Christmas aprons and that was all it took to be inspired. 7:30 one night, Shelby looked up at me while putting on her apron and said, "Mom, can we cook something?" So out went Daddy to the grocery store to get some ready-made cookie dough.
This worked out great! I divided the dough and got her started.
Rolling and cutting was really fun. Getting her to be careful with the cut outs was a challenge. Here is our first tray ready for the oven.
She did an awesome job. We laughed and had the best time. Flour was everywhere and of course on her hands. She doesn't like her hands dirty. (Gee, I wonder where she got that from?) So we learned to wipe our hands on the apron.
The cookies cooled in no time and we then decorated them with some white icing. Now for the best part:
Yum!!
Great Job, Shelby Girl! The cookies were wonderful and you are the best little baker. Mama is so proud of you!!
The cookie dough we used was from Toll House and it came in a yellow tub. It was the perfect thing for an impatient 4 year old.

The First Signs of Some Christmas Spirit

Despite my slow start to get into Christmas this year, my very busy 4 year old kept after me the last couple of days to please put up the tree. At age 4, she is really into everything this year and is so excited about Santa and the tree and of course, all of the presents. I was thrilled to have a helper this year.
Her excitement is contagious and I thank her immensely for that! She helped place all of the ornaments. We learned that bigger ones go on the bottom, little ones on the top and medium sized in the middle. She did an excellent job. I am proud of myself for letting her just put things where she wanted.
Every ornament we opened was her "favorite."
She was very careful, but we did have one casualty. A small price to pay to enjoy this with her.
As you can see, she was very proud of her work. We called it a night, because it was past her bed time. We will finish tomorrow afternoon and maybe put a few lights around the front door and in the front yard. Don remembered to catch us in tree trimming action tonight on the video camera. She is growing so fast. We need to do more filming.
I hope you all are enjoying the season so far. We are off to a good start!

My First Attempt

Yesterday, I found some time at the end of the day to work on Photoshop. I made my very first blog banner for Christmas. I have loaded it above as you can see. It is definitely amateur compared to some of the work that is being done out there, but it is a start.
I signed up for another on-line course hosted by Susan Tuttle. She called it a Quickie Workshop -- Digi Holiday Cards.
Here is a sample from the class Susan is teaching. She has taught how to apply backgrounds, cut out elements, layer objects, create your own text, etc. It has been great for learning a lot of basic techniques in Photoshop Elements. All of the elements that I have included in my banner came from Cottage Arts. Go check out her site. She has some really great paper backgrounds and embellishment images to purchase for your holiday creations.
I have started creating our family holiday card. Here is a sneak peek.
This next one is one I started using my own images.
I am sure that I will change these a few more times until I get it just the way I want them. Go check out Susan's sites and consider taking one of her courses. You will not be disappointed. Her new book will be out next year and she will be teaching these digital techniques.
That book will be on my list for sure!

It was a good visit....

It has been a busy two weeks here. My step son was with us for 2 weeks, Mom and Dad moved out of my house and into their new home and we had Thanksgiving dinner for family near and far. Are we really supposed to get ready for Christmas now???
With Mom and Judy's help dinner was great and was on the table without any stress. Thanks ladies for all your cooking efforts and time! We were 14 and I managed to get all of us at one table in my dining room.
My favorite thing this year for dinner was the cornbread stuffing. Judy and I talk about making it each year so Judy found a recipe she liked, tweaked it to make it her own and it was delicious! Somehow getting diner made and put on the table goes great and then the idea of cleaning up is UGH!!!
However, the girls pitched in with Shelby and cleaned everything that did not fit into my dishwasher. Everything was cleaned and put away in no time. We then had dessert and even after eating all these pies and cakes across the weekend it is still taking up room in the frig. I will have to get rid of some of it today. We ate so much over the weekend I don't want to even look at food.
Before Corwin left, he put his uniform on so I could get some pictures. This is his new dress uniform that he recently got for finishing Officer Training School. He graduated top of his training class. He is currently a full time Staff Sergeant in the Army National Guard. In August of 2010 he will be heading off to Afghanistan. It was good to spend the time with him recently.
Well, it is time for a short deep breath and then start decorating and getting the shopping done for Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.