THE BAKING WILL BEGIN

Oh, and the baking list. Just in case you feel the need to gain 43 pounds in the next few days, or if you too have about 35 people descending on your house on Monday, feel free to copy any or all of this!

Pumpkin Cookies with Penuche Frosting
Homemade Oreos
Brown Butter Shorties
Molasses Spice Cookies
Cocolate Caramel Thumbprints
Pecan Tarts
7 Layer Bars
Mint Brownies
Roll Out Cookies
Almond Roca
Peanut Brittle
Divinity
Fudge

And my pants will no longer fit in approximately T minus 3 days! Something to look forward to...

Homemade Christmas!

I know I promised all sorts of home tours and happy diy home-y things but I am elbows deep in flour and desperately trying to finish the Christmas gifts I stupidly decided to make this year. I finished the last gift this morning, and now I have to finalize the baking list and shopping list for Monday. Ahhh Christmas.

Anyways, the gift I finished this morning is a scarf for the sister. I found a pattern here
at Pretty Ditty. And she does a WAY better job of modeling the after. Also, she has some great things in her etsy shop....

I thought that I could elaborate a little on the steps though.

You will need fabric, two yards is a good length. Cut that in half, lengthwise. You will need one package of little pom pom balls, and embroidery floss.

I started with a chiffon georgette that had to be hemmed all the way around, but to make this a little less sew, you could use a cotton jersey (t shirt material). I started by ironing the material in half so that I could follow the pleat to sew the embellishment in a straight line.

I used a running stitch, just a big stitch the whole length of the scarf.
I ironed the scarf at the quarter marks and sewed two more lines.

Then at one end, I placed one of the pom poms under the scarf and wrapped embroidery thread around the base of the ball.

I tied off each one by taking a small stitch, then wrapping the needle twice through the loop and pulling tight.

I used about 16 pom poms at each end

An now, if I can stop wearing it I can wrap it up and put it under the tree!

The First Post, Merry Christmas!

I have been meaning to start this blog for some time now, and I figured that I might as well jump in and join the Christmas party. We moved in to this house about three months ago and I think I got everything in place just in time to remove most of it for Christmas decorations.

About me, I am a mom of two boys, ages 2.5 and 16 months, and after I found out I was pregnant with the second one I quit my job as interior design manager and a fancy schmancy destination resort. It was a wonderful job, and I really miss it sometimes, but being a mom is way more important and definately more challenging!

Anyways, we moved into this place a few months back and have spent the last little while making it home, well as much of a home as a rental can be. Of course, it didn't take me long to remodel the whole thing in my head, and then implement the realistic (free) type things. So, while I am still waiting for the day that we can start tearing down walls, I do what I can here and there. Next week, I'll start to go through the house with a lot of my diy projects (kitchen table set re-finish, artwork....) and a room by room overview. So please, come back!

And now for Christmas!

We'll start with the biggie, the Tree! (I know, great picture) We cut our tree in the woods every year, which makes for lotsa memories, and explains why it looks like Charlie Brown and the gang will show up with the piano soon.

With the lots of gaps, holes and irregularities (aka BEAUTY) of a nature-grown tree, I have learned to fill and fluff with some stuff. This year, I have a combo of floral wrap, berries and bows. The floral wrap is like a burlap type of loose weave, but it is gold and sparkly and a little more stiff so that it fills well and frankly, I think it looks a lot better. The berries are some really fake looking stuff that I trimmed off an old garland and then some bows to really fill the holes.

The tree is right next to our tv cabinet (mantle). This is one of those fancy lift cabinets that I designed for a client back in the day. The manufacturer built it incorrectly, so instead of shipping it back they said I could have it! There is a lot in my house like that...one of the biggest things I miss about working!

It would be nice if it wasn't so hidden by the tree, but it weighs about two tons (I am barely exaggerating) so instead of moving it the tree just kind of sits in front of it. I inherited my mom's old "Peace" stocking hangers, and hung a wreath on the middle one since we have no third child. Or dog. Yet.

More of the floral wrap, berries and nativity scene are on the top. I usually buy some garland at Costco every year (I love the smell, can't go fake!) but because of the po' times we cut down two trees this year and I have been shamelessly stripping the second tree of it's branches to make garland and wreaths. At $5 a tree, it is way cheaper.

Oh, and don't mind the sidways picture of the naked baby. Soon and very soon I will have a brand new family photo there.

My sister made stockings for my hubby and I right after we got married, and then I made some for the boys when they were born. Each stocking has a line from "The night before Christmas."

The table behind the sofa. These"emmanuel" painted blocks are ones that I made. You can see it in my etsy shop here, or stay tuned after Christmas and I will show you how to make your own.

I hung my favorites of the Christmas decor, our White House Christmas prints (from our DC stint) on my not so favorite pine-treated wall, but I do love them with my Christmas Carol painting that I did this year. Again, there is one in my etsy shop here. Shameless, I know.

I will try to do a follow up post with the wreaths I have made, the mounds of garland that is camoflauging our front door, and the rest of the house, but since I managed to turn one room into a novel I think I had better cut myself off for this party. Also, it hasn't been above 15 degrees all week, so if you think I am going to try to fiddle with my point and shoot until I get a decent picture of my door you have another thing coming!