..what elves do when Christmas is over..

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

..i have the absolute best..

..hubbo in the world :) I haven't posted in a few days because we've been busy getting all of our Christmas celebrations out of the way. You see, J has to leave tomorrow (the 24th) to go to work, and won't be home until Saturday. So we've had to do our eating and present-opening with his family and with my family already. Which means, I was lucky enough to get my presents early :) Wanna see what that wonderful man surprised me with?


Photo courtesy of Hancock Fabrics

I am so in love with this machine. It does so much, and I can't wait until after the craziness of the holidays are over, and I can start sewing again! :) And then there was this...


Photo courtesy of Amazon.com

If you sew, and you don't have this book yet, I suggest you put it on your Christmas list, or just buy it for yourself. It's filled with some wonderful projects.

Yip, he surprised me big time. He's the best. Now I get to surprise him back for his birthday in January. But he reads this, so I can't tell you how yet.. *hee hee*

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..it's a yuck day..

It's been raining for 3 days straight here. It's dark, gloomy, and cold. It would be the perfect day to be creative and crafty, but wouldn't you know I've got a bug.. yeh, the one that's been going around the whole city. I found him, and brought him home with me. I feel yuck.. *sigh* So it's 4:23pm, I have no food in the house and I'm still in my pajamas. I'm about to go wrap up in a blanket and watch Food Network for the rest of the night and drool..

And since I hate posting without leaving pictures, here are a couple from the mini snow we got the other day..





Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..you better not cry..

Our newspaper had a call for pictures of children on Santa's lap who were less than happy. This picture made it to the front page...



That horrified little boy in the too-cute suspenders... that's my husband :) And you want this to get funnier? Santa is being played by his dad, haha. Yes, my father-in-law dressed as Santa, with my husband on his lap, screaming. This totally made my day :)

Just for comparison's sake, here they are 25 years later :)



And here is the picture we used for our Christmas cards this year. Raleigh wasn't very happy with the photo shoot, and we got 1 shot at it. Thank goodness all of our eyes were open..



That's right, Alabama Santa hats. Roll Tide :)

Oh, and you should check out PaperMonkey because Suzy is giving away a TON of goodies. You just have to be entered today by 3pm Eastern, so hurry!

Gotta go get the hubbo ready for work. I have some more pictures I need to post, but it will have to wait.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..santa claws & cake..

I had to show you all this.. it's just the cutest ever.



I know, so cute. Pogue wore the hat for the longest time.. she was awake when we put it on her. She's the more subdued of our two cats. Raleigh would never have allowed us to put ANYTHING on her. If I wanted a picture of her in a hat, I would have to Photoshop it onto her head. But Pogue was very cooperative. I actually think she enjoys playing dress-up.

And I just wanted to show you a pic of the Classic Coconut Cake I did for last week's Festival of Trees Banquet. I usually do a 6 layer cake, but this one is just a 4 layer.





Can you tell what those poinsettias are made out of? :) I was kinda clever on those.. it's chewing gum! :D

My dryer is buzzing.. time to fold some clothes.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..hong kong phooey..

Well, at least the phooey part. That's how the craft fair went today. I made about $45. Sadly enough that's probably about twice what most other people made. There wasn't a good turnout at all. *sigh* Oh well :) I have some info on some larger fairs for next year.

On the exciting side, I have drawn a winner for my giveaway!! :) Actually the hubbo did, so if he didn't draw your name, blame it on him :) And the winner is:

Donna who said...Love that you're making us work a bit! heh!!

So Donna if you could please e-mail me your address. I went to both of your blogs and I didn't see a way to email you. So please send me your mailing addy so I can get these ponytail holders out to you!

A HUGE thanks to everyone who dropped by my blog, and another HUGE thanks to everyone who subscribed. Maybe you'll find parts of my life amusing enough to come around :D

And now I'm headed to bed, because I'm exhausted, and I don't want to sew anything for at least another 2 days... and Christmas is coming.. eek.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all! :)

..raindrops keep falling on my head..

Woke up to a drizzly day here. Maybe that's why I overslept a bit. But it was nice :)

I have had a huge response to my giveaway, which is posted below. And for all those who have entered and who will enter, I wanted to say thank you :) I also wanted to say that even though I may not get to respond to all of your comments, I PROMISE I read each and every single one. Some of you are making me laugh, and some of you I'm definitely going to have to contact for some cookie recipes :)

All I have to share today is a strawberry shortcake I made for a special order the other day. It was for a lady's birthday, and shortcake is her favorite.



And here's how it looked all pretty and packaged up..



And if any of you are interested in seeing it, I'm getting my special order blog up and running. It's Sugar on Top.

Now I'm off to make a coconut cake. Our local Art Society has a "Trees of Christmas" celebration every year, and tonight is the kick-off party. I have the cutest idea for adding a little decoration to the top, I'll post pictures of it later.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..happy free stuff day!..

Well I told you yesterday that I'm participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day. So now I'm here to show you what you can win! (Just imagine me saying that in my best gameshow host voice, lol)



You can win a set of two button ponytail holders! They are pink with a black and white paisley pattern.

All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment on this post. It can be anything, just make it worth it :) I'd like more than, "Enter me, thanks." Tell me something fun you've done lately... tell me how your day at work went... what your favorite Christmas cookie is. Tell me anything, just make it interesting! :)

For an extra entry, tell me in a separate comment that you have subscribed, or are already subscribed to my blog.

On Saturday, December 6th I will draw a winner. So make sure you check back that day to see if you've won. Good luck with all of the giveaways today! :)

..come see me tomorrow..

I will be participating in Giveaway Day!! I will be giving away a handmade goodie.



And there will be lots of other people participating on their blogs as well. So run by Sew, Mama, Sew! tomorrow, December 3rd to see links to everyone. But make sure you come see me for sure!! :D

..happy december!..

December 1st... Wow, the months are just ticking by, aren't they? I'm not even going to mention that you only have 24 more shopping days left. Or 23 if you're like me and do part of your celebrating and gift-opening on Christmas Eve. Good thing a lot of people are getting handmade goodies this year, lol.

So J and I woke up to the lovely sight of snow this morning! Woot! Just a lil' bit. Snow makes me happy, because we rarely get it. It snowed twice last year, and didn't stick either time. Of course, it's not snowing anymore now.. and none of it stuck. But it was fun to run around in for about an hour :)

And I'm really wanting to put away all of my pumpkins, and get out all of my Christmas stuff, but the living room is a wreck because of all of the sewing I've been doing lately. I'll be so happy when it's Saturday, and I'm sitting behind my booth at the craft fair. Luckily I can't take my sewing machine with me, or else I'd probably be there sewing more stuff. Oh wait, it is a portable machine.. and they do provide power cords... no! can't do it. Saturday I'm just gonna enjoy myself. Or try to anyway, and hopefully make some money. J keeps asking me why I'm not subbing any this week. I told him I need to spend this week sewing stuff. Plus I have to make a coconut cake for a local Art Center for Thursday. They have their "Trees of Christmas" event every year, and a party to kick it off. And they called and asked if I would donate a cake. When I agreed, I didn't know it was two days before the craft fair. Bleh.

Anyway, off to shower and do a little Christmas shopping before I come back and start stitching. Hope you all have a great Monday, and a wonderful December 1st!

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..ready to get stuffed?..

I just wanted to wish all of my friends out there a safe and very Happy Thanksgiving! I will be doing lots of traveling today. I just got the hubbo off to work, so he won't be with me. Wish I could go with him. But that's ok, we celebrated Tuesday night.

Everyone be safe, and enjoy your day with your family!

..shiny..

Lookie what I got! Beth from Life is a Musical gave me these great awards. Thanks Beth, you're a doll!!



"Marie Antoinette: A real person, A real award."





"This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Please pass this award on to others who can then do the same."

And for me to nominate people.. I always feel bad, because I don't like leaving anyone out. I mean, everyone's blog that I subscribe to is special to me. So, to make it a little fair, I will nominate some people that have recently left me blog love. I mean, that shows they care about me too, right? :) So all of these people get both awards.

*Chris @ Work for Scraps
*Elizabeth @ My Scrappy World
*Patti @ Scrapping is My Passion
*Angie @ Sun, Sand, Surf & Scrap It
*Shakira @ A Scrapper's Ramblings
*Samantha @ Living Creatively
*Miss A @ The Faerie Wysperer
*Jing @ Just Jingle
*Tammy @ Art & Inspirations

See, I should just nominate everyone I know with a blog, lol. Now I'm off to make a corn casserole for Thanksgiving dinner at the in-laws tonight. It should be.. interesting. An uncle with a new girlfriend, a cousin gone goth, another uncle that tells the same stories over and over about being in the circus... good times :)

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..yay, he's done!..

I'm so happy this guy is finished. I'm really happy with the way he turned out, considering this was my first time using fondant on a shaped cake. Liiiittle tough in some places :)



Haha, I love the look on his face. It's like, "Hey blondie, you plan on doing something with that hair of yours today?"



I hope Puddin' likes him too. That's what I call the little boy that this is for. He's turning 3 today, thus the 3 on McQueen's side (instead of his usual 95).

Now off to clean up the incredible mess I made in the kitchen.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..zoooom..

That's what this week sounded like as it whizzed past me, lol. It's all been a blur. I'm making a Lightning McQueen cake for a friend's little boy (party is tomorrow) so I've been neck deep in flour the past couple of days. It will be really nice if/when I get a shop, with something other than a SINGLE oven. Baking one layer at a time gets frustrating.

Anyway, Debbie at Passion for Crafts is having a huge giveaway on her blog. So go check it out. I mean, she's giving away COPICS people!!

And check out this cuteness from Kristi at Sunnypond. You can get the project for it free at YouCanMakeThis. They have several free patterns, and I really want to try some out. Heh, you know, during some of that free time I have :)

What else... My craft fair is coming up. December 6th in Sheffield, if anyone lives close :) So in between cake layers and making lunch for the Hubbo, I've been trying to get my crafts done. Haha, I think I have like 3 of each thing I want to take made. Hubbo has got to go to work so I can get some more done :)

Ok, timer went off on the oven. I will be back tomorrow with pictures of the cake.

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!!

..great googly moogly..

I thought going 4 days without blogging was bad. And now here's it's been what, 9? I'm slacking. This past week has been really.. eventful :) We're talking cars breaking down 2 hours from home, new mattress shopping and delivery,3 birthdays (2 birthday dinners, 1 birthday cake to be made), and a meeting with the vice principal at the high school I substitute at, because some boys in my room got in trouble last week, and I had to give them the details of it all. Even as an adult, it's no fun getting called to the principal's office, lol! :)

So, some pictures to go with my update.. Well, this kid turned 20 last week.



Even at 20 I can call him a kid. He's my little brother. I can't believe it's been 20 years since the day I watched him come in to the world. Him and mom came over and I made him dinner. He wanted lasagna. I would have made him just about anything he asked for, only because he never asks for anything. He's a great kid with a great heart, and it makes me feel good to know that even though he's a 20 year old guy, he would never pass up an opportunity to hug my neck or tell me he loves me. Happy Birthday Bubba :)

And, before I get all weepy, let's move on to some aprons. Remember the embroidered Coffee Apron I made for the Hot Drinks Swap?? Well, at the time I couldn't say who it was for. Secret Swap :) Well, it was for a lovely girl named Bley, from Bibliosophy Books. She is super talented, and I was so excited to send the apron to her. Well, I signed up for another apron swap. It's the Sassy Apron Swap, themed around holiday cookies. Well, I got my apron in the mail the other day, and guess who it was from? Yip, Bley!! Check it out..



And look at the other great goodies she sent me. Don't you just love the gingerbread man fabric?!



Thanks so much Bley, I love my apron, and I can't wait to wear it while I do my Christmas baking! :D

And for the same swap, this is the apron I made for my partner. She wanted frilly with snowflakes.. I hope she likes it :)



Ok, so, life is still full speed ahead. I have a feeling that won't change until after Christmas. But that's ok :) But I promise I'll try not to let 9 more days go by without updating. I mean, I need it just to remind myself what is going on! :)

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..good grief..

How did I let 4 days go by without blogging? I'm sure the teaching and the dinner dates and the favors for my family helped out a little, lol.

Anyway, I want to talk a little more about this..



There was a newsletter sent out today, and I'm going to copy directly from it :)

We are hosting a fabulous Holiday Workshop this week on the Scrapbook Takeout Forum, there are 9 classes that will be posted throughout the week to inspire you to get your holiday handmade gifts completed.

The classes will feature step by step instructions and pictures to help you create the featured projects. The teachers will be available through the week to answer any questions that you may have about their projects. The project supply lists are posted now, no purchases are necessary you can use your stash. You do not need to be a subscriber and we hope you will invite your friends.

There are no challenges, time limits, or requirements at all!!!

There are sure to be some surprises along the way, but most of all there will be idea sharing and inspiration and motivation!! We hope that you will join us, share your ideas and most of all have fun!

Check out some of the project sneak peeks!



And that doesn't even begin to show you everything! Plus, you can win a great prize. Check this out.

The workshop is all about sharing and the more the merrier so we would like for you to help us spead the word about the workshop and bring as many friends as you can. So there will be a prize for the person who brings the most people to the workshop throughout the week. How can you spread the word?

1. Send this blog post to friends.
2. Snag the blinkie and use it proudly.
3. Link to us on your blog or blog about the workshop.
4. Join our Facebook Group and invite your friends to join.

The prize pack includes the Snowed In paper pack from My Minds Eye, a rubber stamp set of seasonal words, wood ornaments and a metal tin from Shakira's Embossed Ornament & Mini Tin Class!

I really hope to see lots of you at the Scrapbook Takeout Holiday Workshop. And if you bring friends with you, tell them to let us know you sent them!

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..go vote!..

I'm not getting into a political discussion, I'm just telling you to go vote. It's important, and it's our right as Americans! :)

Also, I have 3 takers for Pay It Forward! If you missed getting in on mine, maybe you should visit Abby, Leea or Miss Jingle to get in on theirs!

And one more thing... Don't forget about this wonderful funness that will be taking place next week. It's the SBTO Holiday Workshop!

There are already several project Sneak Peeks and Supply Lists up on the message board. And it's free! You just have to register on the board to see the classes. I hope to see lots of you there!

Peace, love and koala fuzz y'all!

..pay it forward..

I'm following in the footsteps of Linda @ Two Pink Possums and participating in Pay It Forward!



The rules are as follows:
*I will make a handmade gift for the first 3 interested people to comment on this post and I have 365 days to do it in, which is an OK sort time frame I think!!

*You must have a blog to join in and be willing to do the same for 3 other people!

Easy peasy, right? I mean, you have a whole year to make something special for 3 other people. So, who's it gonna be? :D

..it's november!..

The start of a brand new month, how exciting! And with a new month, comes new Scrapbook Takeout Kits!! I am so in love with this month. It has lots of one of my favorite things... butterflies! These previews are only PART of the kits! Take a look.







And here is my contribution to the kit. November's Stamp Add-On Set is so cool. It's the Build-a-Butterfly Set! You can use the pieces separately or together to create all different kinds of looks!



Look at some of the great stuff the Scrapbook Takeout Design Team has created.



And I get to let you know about something fun. I will be hosting the Scrapbook Takeout Holiday Workshop!



Come join us in the forums and on the blog, November 10th-14th. There will be lots of free classes and techniques given by some of the Head Chefs and Moderators. It's going to be a blast, and a great way to get a jump start on your Holiday projects! You only have to register on the forums to be able to participate in the Holiday Workshop. Spread the word, and snag the tag above if you'd like! There's a smaller one on the right side of my blog. Come join, I hope to see you there!!

..happy halloween!..

It's the big day, and even though I'm not dressing up this year, I'm really excited. J and I have never been home on Halloween in the two years that we've been living here. So I don't even know if any kids will come knocking on our door. But I'm excited to find out :) Here's a pic of our Jack-o-lantern, all ready and waiting!



I told J I wanted him to hide in the bushes by our front porch and scare kids when they came up. We're so mean :D

I'll tell you who's NOT mean though, and that's my buddy Beth. She had my name for the "Hot Drinks for Hot Mamas" Apron Swap, and MAN ALIVE did she come through! She knew that I liked coffee, and she knew that I liked turquoise. So what did she do? Found some turquoise coffee fabric! Check out this awesome apron..



I love it. And look at this spiffy coffee wallet she made me too!





It has places to hold your individual coffee or tea bags. Perfect for me to take when I teach! She's selling them in her Etsy shop too, go have a look.

And that's not all.. she sent me a great Coffee Book, some cute magnets, a tea towel, a bag of Peet's Coffee, and a magazine that Peet's was listed in as one of the Top 9 Best Coffees! Thank you so much Beth, I love everything!!

And I did manage to get one crafty thing done today. I got my stocking made for a Handmade Stocking Swap I'm in on Swap-Bot. I went a little non-traditional with my fabric choice. I hope my partner likes it!



Ok, enough for today. J is yelling from the other room that he's hungry. I made a yummy Enchilada casserole last night and (to my surprise) he wants leftovers :)

Happy Halloween everyone!!

..pumpkin patch..

J and I finally got to go to the pumpkin patch yesterday. I was so excited because he's never been to one before. It wasn't as full as it would have been if we had gone at the beginning of the month, but they still had a lot of pumpkins and mums left.

They had these wagons to haul your pumpkins on, and J said, "Hop on, I wanna pull you!" So I did. See my feet? :) He pulled me down to the field :)



Here we are, looking all cute :)





And here is the whopper we brought home. It weighs 58 pounds!! J was so proud... he said it was manly :D



I'll have carving pictures for you tomorrow :D