Christmas projects in action

Well, I didn't get 12 Christmas projects done this year but I am happy with what I did finish. Here they are in action!

 project ONE!

the garland over the patio door

 Making a wreath wasn't on my original list of things to do, but I saw it online here and really liked it. It's kind of small on my door when looking at the whole thing but I still like it. Adam actually wound all the yarn, and I made the roses out of felt like this.

Baby girl TA in her jumper that matches the playdresses that her sisters have. RG and JE modeling their dresses here.

This is the only picture I have of SM in her dress, with Mary Lane Haskill, an up and coming Broadway singer who performed in a show locally that I sang in a backup choir for.

The Christmas cards made with my tree skirt scraps are all tucked into envelopes and I was just waiting on my photo order from Walmart (which was LATE. Dumb store.) They can finally go in the mail on Monday.

I've been going a little crazy with the present-making, and yeah, I'm getting a little impatient to post pictures of them so I can show off and say, "LOOK WHAT I DID!!!!"

Christmas Picture and Crafts

I'm terrible at taking photos AS I do a project, but this one is the culmination of several. I had a friend embroider the second stocking from the left (Maddie's) ast year, and I think I'm going to do green, gold, and red and get one embroidered for each of us now that I think the family is "complete". My goal is to get a quasi-unified look on all the stockings. Also, there are two homemade ornaments from this year on the tree (which, unfortunately, you can't see really well). Directions for them are below. You're also looking at the entire extent of the Christmas decor in the house...we didn't want to go overboard with small kids!

Ornament project #1:

You'll need a lid from a baby food jar, an ink pad, some colored construction paper, glue, and ribbon. Get a thumbprint of your child (baby's first Christmas is fun, but any age will work) on the paper. Around the thumbprint, write the child's name and the year. Cut a circle from the paper the same size as the inside of the baby food jar around the thumbprint and writing, then glue it inside the lid. Wrap ribbon around the edge of the jar, secure with a little glue, and hang on the tree. I have one of these from when I was a baby, and I thought it was really fun to make them with my kids too.

 Ornament project #2:

 You'll need pasta with holes (penne, macaroni, wagon wheels, etc.), food coloring, yarn, tape, and an oven. Put DRY pasta into a bowl with a few drops of food coloring; for about 1/5 of a box, I used about 8-10 drops. Stir until the pasta is coated. Repeat for all the colors you want to do. Then put the pasta on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 until the food coloring is set, about 10 minutes. After it cools, wrap tape around one end of a piece of yarn and let your kids string the pasta onto it for garland and/or necklaces (we ended up with both!). Unfortunately, like a popcorn string, trying to make a big enough garland to wrap all the way around the tree wasn't a reality with short attention spans. We made four small garlands and just put them in the FRONT of the tree! As far as the Shutterfly link, this is my favorite photo ordering site, because they ALWAYS have coupons (part of being a domestic goddess is saving $$$!) and ALWAYS give cash back into your Upromise account. I definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't done Christmas cards yet.

Spinach Artichoke dip that will change your life!

OK - so I am willing to admit that ... maybe... just maybe the "change your life" part of this post may be influenced by this pregnancy. I am not ashamed to admit that I have been making this weekly for almost two months now. But my hormonal food issues aside this is REALLY GOOD, and super easy! I actually haven't ever baked it - I usually just make it cold and then heat up a small portion at at time - or for large gatherings I have put it in a crock pot to stay warm for the entire party. And yes, I am eating some right now as I type this :)

http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-applebees-hot-artichoke-and-spinach-dip-111797

as backwards as it gets

Adam asked me to make him a sleeping bag liner for one of his presents, so I ordered some fabric for it. I haven't told him what I got - just that he won't be embarrassed to have it when he camps with the Scouts. Yesterday, my fabric shipment arrived (with fabric for a couple of other projects as well). Well. The fabric I need for Adam's project was not in the box. The sticker that said "(print) blue fleece" was on a piece of fabric that was NOT fleece. And it was NOT blue. It was regular cotton in a nice shade of purpley-pink. 2 yards of it.

Adam is so anti-pink right now that ... well, I still don't even know how to describe this except to just say what it was. I was on the phone to fabric.com within 5 minutes of opening the box to get the BLUE FLEECE sent. Fortunately, Adam's project can move to last in line because it can be done the quickest.

(And I get to keep the 2 yards of pink cotton - it will be cute for spring skirts or dresses for the girls. But we'll talk about that later. I have all the Christmas presents to finish before I start on something new.)