I'm Dreaming of an Etsy Christmas!

I had the most wonderful Christmas, thanks to my rockin' husband. I gave him a list from my Etsy favorites, and every one that I had specifically asked for, he gave me for Christmas!

First, a gorgeous bird pendant from For The Love Of.... I can't wait to wear it! And yes, that would be a Kimba brooch beside it. Love it. Love her. But I didn't get that for Christmas.

Next, a precious, PRECIOUS little felt bird from Got Crow Creations.

Just to show you how tiny this little Tufted Titmouse is, here's me holding it:

Is that not the cutest thing EVAH? And it looks just like its namesake. Here's proof:

Okay, so it's not the best picture ever made of a Tufted Titmouse, but I didn't want to go stealing someone else's picture without their permission. Y'know? Anyway, titmice are my favorite little birds because of how cute they are. This gift made me squeal. But not as loud as the last gift did...

Can you guess what it is?

It's a beautiful name sign from Susie Harris! She has closed down her Etsy for the time being, but you can see what my whole sign looks like (different name, of course) by checking out her sold items. She is so talented, and I lurve my sign. Sound Man and I are arguing where it's going to go, of course. He wants it above the arch that separates our living room from our dining room (it's actually one big room that used to be two rooms. The "arch" is actually part of the wall that remained when they tore down the dividing wall.). I want it above our fireplace in the dining room when we take down the awful mirror that's above it. Blech. We have a LOT of work to do on that half of the room. I can't wait to see what it looks like when my sign gets put up there!

I am so thankful to my Sweet Sound Man for not only giving me things I love, but also supporting artists like me; those who craft not just because they want to sell something, but because they love to create.

If you have bought a tassel from me this past year, you have my sincere appreciation. I wish I could express how grateful I am for your business. Because of you, this was the reaction all of us wanted to see Christmas morning:

I would have gladly given all my gifts back just to see that face. But I'm glad I don't have to. : )

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas,

SHE Christmas Party decorating!

Well, it's Christmas Eve. It seems like my entire December was summed up the very first weekend, yet I've been too busy to blog about it until now. I have wanted to tell you about decorating for our church's Women's Ministry Christmas party since the first weekend of December. My friend, Lisa, and I always decorate a table (or two...or three...) and this year was no exception. So, now that all the decorating has been done, the tassels have been shipped, and I'm still not done with my shopping, here's the post I've been trying to post since I thought about posting. Post.

Here are my two tables:For the first table, I spray painted some branches from a pile I had made asked my husband to snag from someone's brush pile last summer in 100 degree heat. What he does for me...it's love for sure! (BTW, you're getting a glimpse of my posh Etsy photo studio. What you can't see is the aluminum foil on the naked lamp and the banker's lamp with the shade turned upside down! HA! My husband knows how to get great shots without having to spend a fortune!)Anyway, I put those white branches in a $3 vase from Old Time Pottery, poured Epsom salt around them to look like snow (got that idea from Melissa at The Inspired Room)... and placed the vase on a white square platter I had (it's from Pampered Chef and I got it when I was a consultant...probably free!) and surrounded the vase with matte red and white Christmas ornaments. So simple, but really stunning, even if I do say so myself. The pictures just don't do it justice. Sound Man said it made him think of a movie scene, where people are looking into the vase, then the camera focuses in on the branches, and moves to a scene like Narnia where people are walking among the trees. I like the way he thinks. I will more than likely do this same thing next year. My plates are the new Wal-mart specials. $5 for a set of 4 plates! We had needed some new everyday dishes (I said "need," but I really didn't NEED them...our old ones were Corningware and 14 1/2 years old and still look in great shape, but...well...Momma needed an update, you know?) so we bought 2 sets each of plates, salad plates, and bowls, and only spent $30! Love that price tag! The chargers were some I had bought several years ago at Linens and Things.Silverware, mine; napkins, mine (bought from Sam's several years ago for just this purpose); votives, OTP; Tea glasses, OTP (we use these glasses, too, but I have 12 of these set aside just for the Christmas party); napkin rings, bell ornaments (from OTP a couple of years ago) tied together with pretty ribbon.

My other table was not as elegant, but I thought it was pretty just the same. I had bought a pretty silver finial at Hobby Lobby at 1/2 price and used it in this same arrangement last year.I got the idea for the wreath centerpiece from Paula Deen's Christmas magazine last year. The only difference was this year I used shot glasses (bought solely for the purpose of this arrangement, thankyouverymuch) filled with Epsom salt to steady the 6 inch pillar candles. I learned from the previous year that trying to hot glue them to the branches is not conducive to having a fire-free centerpiece. I got the greenery clippings from Lowe's on a tip from Susie Harris. Will DEFINITELY do that again next year. Free is good!

The silver chargers are from OTP, as are the clear plates. I have about a dozen that I use for these parties. The gold bell ornaments are just like the silver ones. Because the finish on the silver chargers wasn't really all that spiffy, I just sprayed them with silver spray paint to give them a little better shine.

Well, now that it's well into Christmas Eve, and I'm going cross-eyed for lack of sleep, I will close by saying that I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas.

Where has the month gone?

Evidently, I went to bed last night on December 1st and woke up today December 17th! I can't believe it's only 8 days to Christmas! ACK! I still have orders to make! Don't worry, I'll get it done. I just haven't posted in so long I missed it. These two weeks have been chock full of stuff to post about. So, without further ado, here goes!

First, I received this BEAUTIFUL Believe book from Darlene!

I knew it was beautiful from the pictures she had posted (of those this pic is one), but I didn't realize HOW beautiful it was until it came in the mail.

Speaking of it coming in the mail, not only did she send me the book, she also sent a lot of other fun stuff:

Reindeer Poop? I laughed out loud! Actually, it WAS chocolate covered peanuts, but we took care of them pretty quickly. Hee hee.

A sample of Bellagio Caramel Praline hot chocolate and a sweet card from Darlene completed this beautifully wrapped gift that I was so happy to receive. I haven't had the hot chocolate yet. I think I'm waiting until I can s-a-v-o-r it! Thank you, Darlene!

I will end this post here, because as I was working on telling you about our Women's Christmas party, I realized I wanted to go into much more detail than I wanted to here. So, I will save that for later. In the meantime, here's one of my favorite renditions of a classic. James Taylor is the best.

Down East Basics giveaway

Sarah Mae has the best giveaways. Yesterday she posted about a giveaway she's got going on from Down East Basics, a modest clothing company that has cute clothes that won't make you feel like you have to wear three layers to cover up.

The giveaway is for any article of clothing. YOUR CHOICE. Is that cool or what? I'm hoping I get picked. I'd loooooove to snag this dress. For when I lose the 50 pounds I'm going to starting in January. What better incentive? : )

Now, head over to Like a Warm Cup of Coffee and get entered, too!

A Battery! A Battery! My Blog Post for a Battery!

If there is anyone that can tell me what that (very cheesy, gooby) title was inspired by, I will send them a Butterfly Genes bookmark, no kidding. But you have to tell me EXACTLY where it's found.

But that's not what this post is about. This post sounds not so vaguely like this post. Because I'm sitting with tons to tell you about, like Darlene's giveaway, and our SHE party (that's the name of our Women's ministry), and a WONDERFUL recipe (okay, I could probably post that, but what's a recipe without pictures?), but I can't post about all of it because my overworked camera battery died. You can bet batteries are going to be a tax write-off. Oh, and that's another thing I can't do. Load Etsy pics. I have THE cutest Santa tassel to load, but without pictures...well, it's not gonna happen without that battery.

So, what do you think I'm doing? Getting ready to go to the store? Nope...I'm staying nice and warm and have begged my husband to get the battery after work. Bless his heart, he spoils me rotten.

What did y'all do this weekend?

Surgery for Snowmen

I don't know about you, but we don't have a fancy Christmas tree. Meaning we don't have all color coordinated ornaments and such. That's not saying I wouldn't LOVE one of those. But we'd have to have a separate tree somewhere else for that to happen, and we just don't have a place for one.

No, our tree, although beautiful, is decorated with ornaments that date back as long as I can remember. Some are from my Mimmie's aluminum tree that had the color wheel to light it, and some come from my Momma's tree in years past. Most have been collected over the 14 1/2 years of our marriage. And every single one of them is special. So it's never easy when one gets broken or has to be retired.

Which is why, when I discovered that the little snowman that I made at least 10 or 11 years ago had lost his nose, I didn't think twice about it. Throwing him away was not an option.

No, it's not bad hygiene...it's black spray paint. I was too impatient to wait for my husband to bring some gloves home.

No, he's not a priceless treasure. But he's one of my favorites because it's one of the first of these little snowmen that I made. I can't tell you how many snowmen I've made over the years, and each one of them has their own little personality. Since this was in my beginning craft stage, he's not the most handsome, but I still wanted to keep him. So, it was snowman surgery to the rescue.

A little bit of hot glue and he was all better. Or maybe a lot of hot glue. Just ready to go right back on the tree where he had been before.

There are just some ornaments, no matter how uncoordinated they may be with the rest of the tree, that will always have a branch to rest on.

A Dog Named...Jonathan

So, did y'all watch "A Dog Named Christmas" Sunday night? It was on CBS and was a sappy, sweet, cheesy Hallmark Hall of Fame Christmas movie. Right up my alley. Fo' realz. I loooooove sappy, sweet, cheesy Christmas movies. I could watch one every day of December. Well, maybe not that often, but I do love them.

This movie was about a family with a youngest son who is mentally challenged. He hears about a program the local animal shelter is running to temporarily adopt pets out of the shelter over the Christmas holiday, then return them if they want, or, hopefully, adopt them permanently. Pretty sneaky. And wonderful.

Without giving any details away, let me just say that tears were flowing from all three of us. Adopting a rescued dog is very close to our hearts, as you probably know. Jonathan, our Golden Retriever, was rescued last year from the side of the road along with his brother, Skip. We adopted Jonathan and our friends Jeff and Lisa adopted Skip, much to our delight. You can read our story here. And here.

Throughout the movie, between tears, we each took turns loving all over Jonathan. Not that he was all that excited about it. I think he gets a little tired of us kissing him so much. But he tolerates us. 'Cause, well, you know, we did save him from a life of concrete floors and Ol' Roy dog food.

Even though it was 10 p.m. when the movie went off, we still had to put the tree up, since our main goal of the evening was to get the tree up, not get caught up in a sappy tear-jerker. But the kisses didn't stop.

Please excuse the mid-ninety's pink garbage can. It's usually hidden in the pantry. That is all.

I love this picture...I think Jonathan is saying, "Would you leave me ALONE, already!"

But not before he gave Daddy some of his own kisses...

How our lives have been blessed by this dog. I know it sounds crazy, and for those of you who aren't "dog people" you might not understand the bond we have with him. He makes us laugh every day. I mean, I can't look at this picture without giggling...

He loves unconditionally, even after I've had to swat his nose for doing something he's not supposed to. And oh, how I hate to swat his nose. For some reason, much more than I did with Windi or Shadow. I think because I'm not sure where he came from or what he had to endure.

What is my reason for writing ANOTHER post about my dog? Adopting a shelter or abandoned dog was never our intention. We had already had two pedigreed dogs...why should we change now? Well, for one thing, pedigreed dogs are expensive. Another thing, pedigreed dogs are, for the most part, pampered and loved their ENTIRE lives. Rescued dogs are...well...rescued. I think they love more intensely. I think they are more loyal. Maybe it's just my imagination and faulty memory, but I really believe Jonathan is that way. Even though I was against the idea to begin with. Snob that I am.

It just so happens that there is a program just like in the movie. Petfinder.com has a "Foster a Lonely Pet" program. It's not permanent. But it just might be.

I challenge you to think about it. I bet you'll be glad you did.