A Merry Handmade Christmas

Handmade die cut paper boxes and tags filled with candy for our neighbors and church staff.

I'm a stay at home mom and my husband's a youth minister. You can probably guess that can make for a penny pinching lifestyle on most occasions and saving a few pennies during the holidays is the only way to go. For us that means trading money for elbow grease and going handmade baby! I couldn't share all the goodies I'd made as gifts until after they'd been given so here they are!

These magnets with matching monogrammed tin were for my sister-in-law.

My absolute favorite handmade gift wasn't even made by my hands but by my baby's. Mr. Golden Curls specifically requested that he be the one to make Uncle Casey's gift. "Sure what do you want to make him?" "I want to make a thing where I cut a bunch of red paper and glue it to another paper." "A collage?" "Yep." "Alright, collage it is!" I was so excited he wanted to join in and when he was done and I had it all framed up I was tempted to keep it for myself. I know, not in the Christmas spirit! I finally decided I could just have him make me one of my own so Uncle Casey received his collage.

My husband's sis, Sarah, requested some clothespin magnets so I made her these to match her newly redone kitchen.

And special bookmarks for my oldest nephew and niece.

I also received gifts that will help me with my handmade goodies... a mega Starbucks gift card, I like to think of Starbucks less as coffee and more as my beloved muse. A Hobby Lobby gift card, always the perfect gift for me. And three really nice paper organizers from Target. (you can see the three drawer here, the 12 x 12 paper shelf here, and apparently you don't get to have a link the the third, I couldn't find it!) Thanks everyone!

A Merry Classic Christmas

Santa stuffed the boys' stockings with View Masters and Christmas Pez dispensers

Well we made the holiday rounds and managed to survive another year! The boys got a bunch of good classics for Christmas this year that I remember adoring myself as a kid.

Grammy and Grandpapa gave the boys a cute puppet stage with a box full of puppets

And they are fully stocked on super cool Play Dough toys with a Play dough Potato head set, Play dough Fun Factory and a Backyardigans Pirate Ship Play Dough toy. We cracked open the Potato head and the boys loved it, I can't wait to open the rest!

And how's this for a throw back! Santa must be feeling nostalgic this year, I love it! I remember discovering this pen when I was a kid. Four colors in one pen, I was completely in love!

Over The Mountains...

...and through the woods, to Grandmothers' houses we go!


And we're off to the Christmas races. Tonight we have our own little Christmas Eve with the boys and "Christmas" on Tomorrow morning. Then Tomorrow afternoon we drive 6 hours to the Bohemian's parents' where we'll spend actual Christmas. The day after Christmas it's 5 hours to my parents' for our third and final Christmas. And Saturday 3.5 hours home to be sure hub's back in time for church Sunday morning! Whew!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas full of family and friends and all the fantastic stuff that really matters. And after Christmas I hope those wonderful things carry on into your New Year!

The Photoshop B-I-B-L-E

What better way to spend the evening and work to grow your child's spiritual development than a bedtime story from the Bible?! Every night before bedtime we read the boys a story that they pick and then a story from their devotional Bible. It seems the Bohemian got a little confused on this night, he must've had projects on the brain! Actually Lil' Spitfire was enthralled, Mr. Golden Curls on the other hand was a little thrown off and ready to resume the routine!

You Smell Like A Monkey...

Happy Birthday to the Bohemian! I'm so glad you were born 32 years ago today or I'd be an old unwed crazy cat lady. Ok, I'd be a 32 year old unwed crazy cat lady!

Our gift to the Bohemian

Good Enough For Me To Poop On!

Raise your hand if you remember watching Triumph the insult comic dog on Conan O'Brien? I loved that skit and I love Conan. Unfortunately I'm in the land of parenting and that means that if I'm up late enough to catch Conan it's probably because I'm up working on something. I think my dogs must've caught an episode recently though because today they have both pooped on the Christmas tree skirt that the Bohemian and I made out of fabric scraps and old clothes when we were newly weds. "So, Maya, Cash, what do you think about this extremely sentimental tree skirt under our Christmas tree?" "Oh, yea mom it's lovely with the paint splattered old jeans and crazy old lady fabric, yea just great...it's good enough for me to POOP ON!" (cue obnoxious dog laughter).

Fa la la la la...

I still can't believe I'm a small group leader but alas I am. I have somehow managed to make myself partially responsible for the spiritual growth of the Jr. High girls who are in the Bohemian's youth group. Luckily I'm not going it alone and have a fantastically cool Chicky poo trudging along with me who deals with the teaching part of our meetings. Wed. night we decided it was Christmas party time so we pulled out the Christmas music, bought a white Christmas tree (only because we couldn't find pink) and pulled out the craft supplies. It was so much fun and the girls did a fantastic job making there own decorations, the tree looks great! Now we're hoping to be able to donate the tree to someone who doesn't have a Christmas tree of their own. Doing this party also made me realize I do so much better when I can interact with people while keeping my hands busy with crafting than I do with the unspent, nervous, social anxiety ridden energy that rages through me when I don't have something to occupy my hands, I need to take up knitting!

M.I.A

For those of you who have expressed concern, no I did not trade my children in order to acquire Mr. Cash Pugface. Here is my photographic evidence:

Wishing You A Pug-filled Christmas

Isn't he so pretty? I was terribly impressed with his manners during his photo shoot. We've never done this and so far when I try to take his picture he runs up and sticks his nose in the camera. I suppose getting dressed up has a civilizing effect on us all! He sat still as a stone waiting for his treat, there must be bribes! I did realize after looking at these that he's shorter than the bottom of the tree so the tree wasn't as much of a background as I'd hoped it would be, more of a hovering presence. Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE this dog?! He's perfection. My husband's pretty cool too, he enables my newly found Pug obsession by taking pics while I bribe.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" It's just the Pug Mamma trying to trick her Pug into acting like a Poodle.

There Was An Old Lady Who Lived In A Shoe

Once upon a time, long long ago, there was a young art student who lived in a 650 sq/ft house with no interior doors, an incredible deck the size of the house and an acre sized fenced in yard. She moved there so she could adopt a fantastic Great Dane, Sir Edward Elgar The Mighty Sedlak Graham Skaggs. This girl and Elgar had other roommates of the feline variety, 4 to be exact: Annie, Fazzoletto, Luciano, and Damian Hell Cat who lived contentedly together in this tiny house cramped with furniture, books and art supplies. They all lived happily ever after. Well, all except for Fazzoletto who died mysteriously...and Luciano who was run over by the girl's prince shortly after they were married...Damian Hell Cat, well, come on really does that need explaining?! He was destined for the wild. Oh yea, and Elgar died of bloat but he was an old man...So Annie cat, the girl and the prince lived happily ever after. Good grief, no wonder my dad was calling me Animal Hospice!

Bah Humbug!

Between kids and my love of pets I don't think I'll ever be able to decorate my tree below the half way mark. This year I thought I was safe with non breakables down low but Mr. Cash Pugface LOVES the plushies!

A Christmas Kid Craft Classic

Mr. Golden Curls has been asking me daily "how long before it's Christmas?" I think mostly because he wants to see his Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Pete and, maybe most importantly, the four cousins that are part of that brood. After he asked for the three millionth time I decided it was time to whip up the 'ole grade school classic, the countdown to Christmas chain. Now every morning we can pull off a link and when he asks "how long before it's Christmas?" I can just point to the chain and say "that long!" I'll let you know if it actually works.

Crafter Of Mountains

On the way back from North Carolina we took the scenic route through the Smoky Mountains and it was breathtakingly gorgeous. My photos just don't do it justice because to stand on this outlook and see the vast expanse of mountains covered with autumn trees was an incredible experience, the kind of experience that makes me say "Wow, that God is one big, powerful hombre!"