Best Christmas Ever

A few days after Christmas we saw a little kid on tv declare "this is the best Christmas ever!" to which Mr. Golden Curls responded with disappointment "I wish I had thought to say that." I must agree, it was the best Christmas ever! We didn't kill ourselves driving all over creation in the matter of a few days. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our own house, and the boys are old enough to be fully engrossed in all the Christmas trappings. It was a blast! Santa even brought the boys the coolest Christmas train ever with track that attaches to the middle of the tree!

We were also sucked into the abyss of commercialism, though still modestly, with the purchase of Bendaroos for Golden Curls and a Pillow Pet for Lil' Spitfire. Totally worth it, they loved them!


We all love these little handmade plush robots from Ekioart. They've been the boys' constant companions since Christmas.

Even Mr. Cash got a Christmas gift this year, well sort of. Auntie Kristin sent me some Puggy Christmas tissues. Mr. Cash, being a good reader, obliged.

Boys, Get In Front Of The Christmas Tree!

It looks as though I must have said this to the boys a lot this holiday season!

Holiday Postcard From Mr. Cash

Mr. Cash is dreaming of a white Christmas, hitting the slopes and cuddling up by a fire in the ski lodge. But first he wanted to send out his holiday wishes for a fantastic Christmas and wonderful things to come in the New Year. May your days be merry and bright!

I Am A Robot...Craft Project

Introducing Skippy Bowlingball (made by Lil' Spitfire), Stella (made by me) and the robot who never ended up with a name because Mr. Golden Curls couldn't decide on the perfect one. He was, however, positive that this was "a talking baby robot."

Robot voices abounded yesterday as the boys and I made one of our coolest kid projects to date, paper robots! This idea was even sweeter because it was 100% my 5 year old's idea. He had seen my Skull and Crossbones garland on the tree, asked what held them together and you could see his wheels turning. On the way to school he told Pappa all about the robot he was going to make using brads for joints. He's home all week for Christmas break so every day we're going to do something extra fun. Yesterday was robot making day!

Silly pictures using the timer on the camera have become a tradition in our family, so here you have it, Robot style silly.

I was totally impressed with the boys. Mr. Golden Curls made his completely by himself, punching holes and all. Lil' Spitfire required very little assistance, he's almost four, I had to punch the holes for him and bend the brads but everything else was all him. He even came up with the idea of hole punching the mouth. And how could I miss out on the action? I couldn't! So I made my own robot who currently resides on the Christmas tree.

A Christmas Revelation

Lil' Spitfire and I were walking hand in hand toward brother's school the other day when I learned a very interesting fact about Christmas.

Lil' Spitfire (rather matter of factly): "Santa stands next to your bed at night time and watches you sleep."

Me (A little creeped out and taken aback): "He does? Why does he do that?"

Lil' Spitfire: "So he can see you when you're sleeping."

Me: "Ah, well, naturally."

What a creepy interpretation of some common Christmas lyrics! But, in true Spitfire style, he seemed totally unfazed by the idea that there was a giant, fat, bearded and costumed man making a nightly pilgrimage to his bedside to stare at him while he slept. I'm glad he has yet to share this revelation with his brother who last year expressed some serious concerns about the fact that said bearded man was going to sneak into our house at night to deliver gifts.

Craft Show Survivor

Well, I'm no longer a craft show virgin! The Handmade for the Holidays show Saturday was a great success in my book. I have nothing to compare it to but all I'd hoped in a first show was to make back the money that I put in on fees and displays and to get my little craft show feet wet and I think that happened. I was also incredibly blessed to experience so much love and support from friends, family and complete and utter strangers who were all so generous and flattering.

I loved my booth but am afraid it would be way to cumbersome for me to haul anywhere out of town.

I had forgotten how wonderful it is to spend quality time with other artists. My booth neighbors were fantastic, everyone was friendly and roamed around meeting each other and I got to meet several people that I've talked to online for years but never met in person. I could just go on and on about that part of it. The people make it and this was so much fun!

It was interesting to see what sold in person that doesn't sell online and what didn't sell at the show that I expected to. I also see ways I think I can improve for the next one. Overall for a first timer I really like the way my booth turned out.

I really liked my displays, especially the front table and Christmas table. I also liked the unusual shape of my space. I was a little bit crowded on my big table though and am thinking up some ways to give the little goodies some breathing room.

My lovely assistant for the day.

Photo taken by Lisa of Golden Muses on Etsy

I thought the crowds were great for a first time show. It wasn't super jam packed but there was a steady stream of shoppers.

Photo taken by Lisa of Golden Muses on Etsy

I finally got to meet Brandy of Ekioart on Etsy, she's also on my street team, AREtsy. And I adopted two of her robots to give the boys for Christmas. So adorable and incredibly soft. You can get yours here.

Photo taken by Lisa of Golden Muses on Etsy

I made a fantastic trade for one of Briana's lovely bars of vegan eucalyptus spearmint soaps and it is divine! There's a good chance I'm now an addict! Briana was one of the gals who ran this show and you can purchase her soaps online at her shop Nest on Etsy.

Needless to say I will be doing this more in the future. Now that I've been through the process I think it won't be so all consuming like it was this time. Figuring out set-ups, how to take money etc etc really took up some time. Oh and I'm really glad I signed up for Propay to take credit cards. Those transactions added up to about 1/4th of my sales and I can see that growing in the future.

Stay tuned to my shop, The Beehive. I'll be filling it up with all the goodies that didn't sell at the show.

A Merry Techno Christmas

The Christmas Convention of nerds. Indeed, that is 4 computers on the internet at the same time playing City of Heroes. The nerds from Left to Right: The Bohemian, Carl Dog and Pickle Pete (mmm, best sweet pickles ever, thanks Pete!)

Yes it's true, I live in the Land 'O Nerds which means technology is hard to escape even on the day of our blessed Lord and Savior's birth!

My husband got a Best Buy gift card, drove 2 hours round trip to go spend it in Little Rock and came back with a bunch of techno goodies to nerdify my computer. "You're not supposed to use your gift to buy me gifts!" but really I know it's a gift to him to be able to send some geekiness my way. So now my computer's all tricked out with brand new speakers (yea, I can actually hear what I'm watching!) and microphone. Add that to the web cam my folks got me and I've got one tricked out ride! Now, not only can I spend all day in my jammies with a mug of joe and my butt glued firmly to this chair but others can witness it, thanks honey!

Aren't they so cute? Little nerds in training! I was a Wii virgin before Christmas and I must say, it's pretty cool! all the adults could hardly wait to shove the kids off to bed so we could play with the Wii without all those pesky kids trying to horn in on our fun! We bought Dance Dance Revolution for our niece and nephews but their feet hardly touched the thing because the adults were too busy trying to live out their dreams of a featured spot on Dance Party USA. Ok, that was probably just me.

The boys enjoying a good old fashioned nerd toy of the RC variety.

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!

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!

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.

All's Well That Ends Well

Mr. Golden Curls making a heart with his hands. I have no idea where he learned this but I think it's adorable!

Have I said yet how absolutely completely and utterly fantastic it is to have our family of four back together again? Because it is. The Bohemian and I are re-learning how to occupy the same space. We're both passionately opinionated, what do you expect from an artist and someone with a vocal performance degree in opera? And we both think we know the best way to do everything, which makes it hard to be around others. That's why we're lucky to have found each other, no one else would put up with us! Even with that it's more than wonderful and I'm daily reminded why The Bohemian is my perfect balance. And the boys are finally getting used to the fact that when he goes he's just going to work and he'll be back in the evening not a week or so. We have almost all of our possessions out of storage, tomorrow should complete that task. Then I'm going to kick major booty to get the house together so I can start kicking some major booty getting my etsy shop back together again!

For the past few days I've been reading a series of etsy articles from their blog, The Storque, on making over your shop. I've been taking notes and I'm ready to examine all of my listings with a critical eye while re-opening and revamping anything that could be better. I'm ready to get back to it, I even have a room that will be completely dedicated to my crafts ("Mine, all MINE!!!!!!!!) but if I start in on getting my shop up and running before the house is complete the house will never be complete. So house first. It's also time to start thinking about making and listing Christmas items! Hard to think about Christmas when it feels like 110 degrees outside with a massive humidity of why-the-heck-doesn't-it-just-rain-already!