Here we go again! Snow is falling and I am getting ready for New Years Eve. We will be celebrating tonight with a small group of friends at a house party. The food will be good and we always have fun. It is sad that the holiday season is coming to an end. But I am looking forward to a new year. Let's hope 2010 is a good one! 
I had a lot of will power right up until Christmas Day. I was able to bake batches of cookies, breads and dip almost anything in chocolate without over indulging. I am not sure where my will power went, but it hasn't come back. I had to sample the brownie pie, the blueberry pie, the chocolate peanut butter balls, the grape nut ice cream ( I could do a blog just about that!), the chocolate birthday cake (my sister-in-law is a Christmas baby), the cherry winks and finally the egg biscuits! I did not eat all this in one day, mind you. Tomorrow, my will power better be back! I have to get back on the good eating wagon! How boring is that! 
Merry Christmas!
I wish I could say that this is the last batch of cookies and chocolate covered pretzels but that is not the case. The oven is preheating and I am getting ready to make Peanut Butter Blossoms and more Raspberry Thumbprint cookies! 
I have been baking since I was 14 and I have never made a Gingerbread cookie or for that matter any kind of rolled out cookie. They were so easy and so cute! I will be making more of these next year. I will definitely have more candy for decorations
My daughter said the Thumbprint cookies were like little danishes. A cookie for breakfast, what a fantastic idea! 
Please help yourself to a little chocolate treat, or two. There are chocolate covered Oreos, a few pieces of cranberry pistachio bark and Butterfinger bells. I made this little box of treats for a friend. I made quite a few treats this weekend. A few more assorted cookies and I will be done with all the baking and chocolate covered treats.
Not a lot of words needed here, this little sign says it all. 
I made a little JOY banner for the window over the kitchen sink. I am keeping the decorations simple this year. Our tree looks really pretty, there are a lot of ornaments on it this year, lots of white ornaments. I did not do that on purpose, it just worked out that way. But the weather has been too cloudy to get a great picture of the tree. It is gray again here today, but this is winter in New England. I also like gray days. Well, I am off to the market to get the ingredients to make "The Barefoot Contessa's" macaroni and cheese. Yum! Then watch a few football games and wrap a few presents.
Thank for visiting!
I found these unfinished wooden ornaments at Jo Ann's over the Thanksgiving weekend. I papered them up a few nights ago. I have a new rule that I can not sit down and watch television until 8 PM. I will admit that I get a lot done following this new rule!
I made a few of these last year and they looked rather nice on the tree. I put a picture of a family member in the middle. If this were about ten years ago, I would of painted them instead of papering. Painting is great, but it can be messy. Papering is much easier for me. Someone else does all the detailing. Thanks for that.
A few weeks ago my family was discussing our favorite candy. That night I could not narrow my favorite down to one. The next day when I was out buying a few things, I threw a bag of gum drops in my basket. I always buy gum drops. I have a small bag in my glove compartment right now.Why didn't I just say gum drops while everyone else was naming their favorite candy?
Over the summer I made a few of these cute glass magnets. I forgot about them until last week. Now, I am going through all the Christmas catalogs I have been getting in the mail to find all these cute images.
The skier and the clock are two of my favorites.
I think they will make cute Christmas gifts. If you have a frig you can always use a few magnets! Who doesn't have a refrigerator? I am having fun looking for cute little pictures. Wow, I am boring!
Last year was the first time I ever saw an advent calendar made from a cookie sheet. I really wanted to make one but never got around to it. This year it was on my list of things to make. My intention was to make six of them. That was my plan, until I started the first one. They are very time consuming and I have lots of other things to do, so I only made one. It is a cookie sheet I spray painted green and then sponged with a little white paint. Magnets keep the numbers from falling off the cookie sheet. 
On Monday I showed it to my mother. She really liked it! So, needless to say I went out bought another cookie sheet and spent Monday night and Tuesday morning making her one. I brought it over Tuesday night. She loved it. 
25 days until Christmas.
I always wish for peace!
I am on a roll! Another completed project! 
I am not sure what I am going to do with it just yet. 
I bought these paper mache bird houses last year at Michaels for 29 cents a piece. 
As I said before, I have to complete all older projects before I start something new. 
I can not believe it is December 1, 2009! 
I really like these snowman and Santa images. They are very bright and cheerful. I guess they could be described as whimsical. They were the perfect size for coasters. I got out the Mod Podge and made two sets of four to give to my daughters. 
I love this snowman. I have not made a snowman in years. Maybe, this is the year to get outside and make one.
I like the way they have a distressed look about them. It is the tile coming through the picture. 
All boxed up and ready to go!
Another finished project. Rather, two finished projects! 
Thanksgiving Day has come and gone. I hope that everyone had a great day with family and friends. 
I made a few of these cans last week. Please forgive the picture quality, we have had a lot of dark days here in the north east. They are tin coffee cans that I spray painted red and green. I love spray paint!
I made a little handle out of wire. Then added some very colorful strips of cotton fabric to it.
I love painting snowmen. They do not have to be perfect, that's my kind of painting!
A little tag is added and these are ready to be filled with, well something!
I have decided to finish all the projects that I have started before I begin anything new! I bought six of these unfinished snowmen at Michaels a few weeks ago. I made one! That meant five more to finish! My math skills are still there, good to know. I painted the snowmen white and then threw some white glitter on them. They are very cute!
These were papered, also cute. They have just a touch of white glitter.
This is how they started.
All glittered up and waiting to be placed on the tree.
So much to do to get ready for Thanksgiving. 
It is my Mother's 74th birthday today. She is of course, the best Mom in the world. I bought this card for her at a local art festival. The beautiful poinsettia is a pin, it came attached to the card. When I saw it, I new I had to get it for her. Um, should I make her a handmade card, too?
Thank you again to the wine lovers out there, this post would not be possible without you! 
It took a few tries, okay quite a few tries before I finally came up with this idea.
I bought a new stack of Christmas paper last week at Micheal's. I still intend to make my own Christmas cards this year. But, I have not come up with an idea yet! For now I can use the paper for other little Christmas crafts.
To make this snowman ornament, I glued a piece of background paper to a wooden tag. Then cut out the adorable snowman and glued him to the background paper. A piece of u shaped wire holds the tag to the cork. Another piece of wire holds the cork to the pretty ornament hanger. I can not believe I found these beaded ornament hangers. They were 12 for $1.00 . A little piece of raffia and poof! A cute little ornament!
I had never heard of apple brownies before last week. I took the recipe from "The Katie Brown Workshop", which is a television show that I found on my local PBS station. I remember watching Katie Brown a few years ago on Lifetime TV and wondered what had happened to her. Well, she is on PBS now and I am glad I found her. Her ideas are simple and I like things that are easy to do! 
I had all the ingredients right in my pantry. I did not have to search high and low for some expensive seasoning I would probably only use once.
They turned out perfect!
