Christmas to New Year's

The week between Christmas and New Year's is such a deliciously different week.  I feel like there is so much prep and anticipation for Christmas.  Then it ARRIVES, and everyone is allowed to take a bit of a breath, relax, and enjoy.  There was a lot of sickness for us, but we made it through.  In some ways it forced us to slow down even more.  We did a lot of reading, crafting (Hello, Rainbow Loom!!  Where have you been all my life?), and board game playing.  New Year's Day is our anniversary.  It was a simple day- recovering from staying up too late the night before. ;0)  But we got to mass, took the kids out for a special lunch, and made some yummy Cornish game hens for dinner.  We will have a more elaborate celebration next week, I think.  2013 was a challenging year.  However, I am becoming more aware that challenges are not necessarily bad.  That through the difficulties one can change and grow in ways you never thought you could through the grace of God.  The God part is essential though.  I see Him working on me- on all of us- and I see hope, and I hold on ever tighter. 

I am not ready for this Christmas break to be over.  I could use one more week.  Only a couple more days until the routine and school and everything else starts all over again.  So, I am going to go sew while my kids play with neighbor kids outside and enjoy and dream  about all the blessings I have been given.

   

-last week-

Finishing up some school work.  Ah...math.

Jesse Tree Ornaments (from this etsy shop). I purchased the multi color set, and they are so lovely!

Ornament crafting.  I found this cute little ornament craft at Target for $3. My kids loved it, and we attached them to our cookie gifts for neighbors.

Lots and lots of cookie baking.  I think I gained three pounds over the past three days.  Shouldn't Christmas baking be calorie free? *sigh*

Special Christmas toy playing.

This has inevitably all led up to the annual Christmas sickies.  We all have horrible coughs.  Pooh.

-tin can caddy-

This is a project I found via Pinterest, and I was immediately excited to make it.  I started collecting cans and got a nice little assortment.  Then they...sat. for. months.

 However, a few weeks ago I went and bought some Modge Podge, grabbed some scraps, and got to work.  I have never used Modge Podge before!  Fun stuff!  I was introduced to all sorts of fun things to make when I was in the Modge Podge aisle at Michael's.  :0)

The caddy is perfect for holding all my crafty supplies, and I love having it on the lazy susan.  Brilliant.  I can sit and not have to move my lazy butt to reach the essentials. :0)

In the tutorial she has you hang the little cans on the big can, which I think looks really cool.  However, I am lazy and just stuck the cans around the bigger one.  The nice thing about that though is it makes the little cans more versatile, and you can move them to a different location if your heart should so desire.

So, there you have it...go forth and collect some tin cans!

Also, Michelle Patterns has just released an awesome new document on how to format PDF patterns!  I just bought it, and it is full of useful info on formatting, wording, and all the little nitty gritty technical stuff that goes into putting together a PDF pattern.  She is offering it at 50% off until Sunday with the code: patternmaking!

Valentine Cards!

I finished up my girls' Valentine's cards this morning, and they just turned out so darn cute.  I saw a lot of these popping up on crafty blogs last year and knew I wanted to give it a try this year.  You can find a simple little tutorial on how to do them here.  Juliana was a natural poser, but you should have seen me trying to get Felicity to stand still for just one second.  The kid just can't stay still- as much as she tries!

Here is the basic unedited picture that I started out with for Juliana.

I just uploaded the picture to Flickr and then edited it in Picnick.  You can add text and borders, and I added a heart as well to cover up the unsightly outlet. ;0)  Easy peasy.