2012

This year really has been a great one; I think I have learned a lot and really grown my little baking business.  There are always things I aim to do better at in the New Year, but I don't really do New Year's Resolutions anymore.  I never kept them for long and some I never even started, so I gave them up.  Now I try to pick one thing off my bucket list and complete it before the end of the year.  Some years I do more, some less.  Some of my favorites have been...

Climb a volcano


*Bonus slide down the other side

 

 

Zip line

 

and travelling solo to New York.

 

This year, my goal is to live in a foreign country and hopefully send my parents to Alaska.  For vacation that is :)   What about you any resolutions or bucket lists for 2013?



I spent my last day off for Christmas working all day in our garage.  Erin cleaned and organized while I worked on projects ( I love that arrangement; I make a mess, she cleans it up!).  Hopefully I'll have lots of finished projects to share soon if everything goes according to plan.  I fully intended to finish them all yesterday, but it seems like I just started more!  Maybe I'll knock them out this weekend after I finish a wedding cake.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I spent the weekend at my parents and really enjoyed getting to spend time with my family.  I love all our Christmas traditions from oyster stew Christmas morning to reading the Christmas story before we open gifts at my grandmother's house.  It's always a little sad when it's over though.  We spent most of last night putting together Erin's gift.  She was super excited about her new wagon.  We'll be getting back to normal around here soon and gearing up for the New Year.

 

Hopefully

Christmas Decor

I was wasting time busy researching decor yesterday. I ended up on Emily Henderson's blog. I seriously love her style and am super jealous of her thrifting finds. I spotted this awesome ornament wreath.

 

Is it bad that I'm now planning Christmas DIYs for next year?  It's so cute though and definitely DIY-able.  Plus, I know two little girls who would love that wreath(?).

Random Acts of Kindness

The tragedy at Sandy Hook has left the country reeling in the last few days.  I'm sure a lot of you have heard about Ann Curry's tweet asking for 26 acts of kindness for the 26 who were killed at Sandy Hook.  I love this idea and I know many have embraced it. 
I have been using these printables for a while now.  It doesn't have to be anything huge, just send a little love to a stranger and pay it forward.

Finally...

She's come a long way baby!

Jus noticed Tipper's bone in the floor,  oops :)

  

I love seeing how different pieces are transformed and giving them a new life. This one was definitely a lot of work stripping the old varnish and I am so glad to be done with it! Although I definitely need to add casters. It's a little awkward when you have people over for dinner and to scoot up to the table have to count 1-2-3 scoot and again to get up. We're really sophisticated at my house :)

A Few of My Favorite Things

I fully intended to post my settee after pictures this week.  However, the procrastination bug bit this week.  My thought process seriously went something like this, "I really need to take a few pictures and attempt to edit them.  Ugh, then I would have to clean off the table.  Maybe I'll just post them Monday."  And cut to me spending the entire night looking up art on etsy and 20x200.  Not a very useful way to spend the night, but I have acquired quite the wish list.

Since I am a complete slacker, I thought I should at least share some of my favorites.

These Christian Chaize prints are all time favorites.

 

 

 

I so wish this was not sold out.

 

The Edward Muybridge prints are great too.

 

Erin's not loving this one, but I think it's great.  It just brings up images of old road trips.  And if we're being completely honest here Erin doesn't like most of my art picks (and vice versa :) ).

 

Actual paintings are hard for me to get a real feel for online, so much of it is in the texture and detail.

 

I do love this snow storm painting. 

 

 

 

And seriously, I NEED a pet portrait of Tipper.

 

 

I mean, how cute is that?!

Happy Handmade Christmas

Handmade Christmas gifts are the best (and usually most economical route). One of my favorite gifts to make is a monogrammed tea towel and ruffled dish towel paired with a baked good. I usually make my Aunt Mertice's Pound Cake.

I've used this tutorial a million times over the last few years for gifts.  They are so simple and cute, especially in a basket!

 

New Car for Christmas?

I desperately need a new car; I've been talking about it for years.  I really want a Mini Cooper, but then I have a moment like this.  While I love the idea of a Mini Cooper, my antiquing/thrifting trips would be a little much for it.

 

Exhibit A

 Exhibit B

I never really think about how the things I buy will make it home until I get to the car.  Somehow, I almost always manage to make it fit.  Luckily this shelf came apart :)

Paper Bows

Christmas is my favorite time of the year, so I hope I don't completely overload you with Christmas projects.

I love wrapping gifts.  Usually I make huge bows with ribbon or tie on ornaments, but last year I found out you can make curly bows out of wrapping paper.  I mean, who knew you could curl paper!?

It's really easy to do, I usually just use the extra bits of paper from odd sized packages.

Fold in half long way cut into strips varying in width 1 in or less.

 

 

 

 

Then start curling just like you would regular curling ribbon, just be a little more gentle with the paper.

Keep curling until you have all the pieces done.

 

Then roll up keeping about a quarter size hole at the bottom and tape the end.

 

 

Flatten the circle and fold it down.

 

Fluff the bow and tape it on.

 

 

Christmas Tree Candles

I've been going in to Christmas overload at my house.  It seems like every spare minute I spend wrapping Christmas gifts or working on Christmas projects.

This week is no different.  I have had these candles FOR.E.VER. and you can tell.  They are definitely not traditional Christmas, but I'm kinda partial to them.  However, they are waay past the point of just turning them so you only see the good side.  They don't have a good side. 

 

I happened to have some silver leaf left laying around and decided to try it. I taped on the design .

 

Sprayed it with the leaf adhesive and applied the silver leaf.

 

I ran a exacto knife down each side of the tape so it wouldn't pull off the leaf.

The largest one I decided to monogram.  My way was a little goofy, but it worked.  I stuck strips of tape to the counter top and drew out my letter.

Then I silver leafed the top of the tape.

Flipped it over(so the sticky side is up) and cut out the "W"

Then I just stuck it on the candle.  I'm sure there is a much better way to do this, but it worked so I'm not complaining.

Nothing beats giving your old stuff a new life!