40 Christmas greetings! (for under $20)

Hello my Lovelies!

For the past couple of years I have been disappointed with the bulk generic holiday cards. They are either very bland or rather expensive and you only get about 8 - 10 a pack. Last year I made my own cards with green cut-out trees, glitter, and plain white cards. I went a little bit extra this year and I'm quite pleased with the results.

And there are 40 of them! Isn't that wonderful? And it only cost me about $20 (The materials cost under $18 but I still haven't bought the stamps yet). I used Reflections Assorted Box of Cards (Holiday styles) that I bought at the Michael's Art Supply Store. I used self-adhesive Michael's brand foam glitter stickers (reindeer and tree packets) and fished out the clear, red, and green jewel stickers from their 50 cents bins.  I had the best time mixing and matching all the Christmas-themed loveliness.

 It took a couple of hours of free time but now the recepients of my cards will have something sparkly and friendly to place on their fridge or mantle this season.

This wasn't a difficult project at all if you take your time and carefully distribute your materials so each card looks unique and hand-made. So, if you too are disapointed with the generic or unappealing cards available for purchase. Try this simple D.I.Y. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays my Lovelies!

-LL

 

Next Black Friday.

Okay, I'm making a plan NOW so next year I can have an escape plan for Black Friday. It wasn't really awful but it was a very, very long day that I really could have done without. Part-time work isn't very pleasant and Black Friday just makes it that much worse. So I've decided that next year, my post-Thanksgiving weekend will be much more pleasant!

This is a cute cabin available for rent on the mountain near my home. For a measly (okay, maybe not measly) $300 dollars, I can spend the night here Thursday, and wake up to chirpping birds and a light breeze on an otherwise awful day. If I pack my record player and some albums, I'll get to spend the day enjoying nature, serenity, and the soothing sound of vinyl. Then, I can go to sleep that night and wake up Saturday and return to a hopefully settled town.

It has a fireplace, a separate bathroom, and a kitchen so I can cook and shower and be at peace while everyone else scrambles around. Honestly? I've never enjoyed Black Friday, mostly because I am always working that day. Not next year, I hope.
 

Baking Binge

I've been on a hardcore baking binge for about a week. My first batch of sugar cookies were made with shortening- the tasted like doorstops. Not that I know what a doorstop tastes like -wouldn't they taste like metal? Continuing on- the first batch was awful and dry. The second batch was better but tough. Third bath - charming. I found these cute cookie cutters at a dollar item store last Christmas. One is an angel, but when they got done baking, they looked more like fairies.

Cute though, right?



Today I thought I'd try a cake. It's been baking for about 40 minutes, the middle is still wet so I'm worried. I don't want a damp in the middle cake but I don't want the outside burnt! I suppose I can cut the burnt parts off.

Ha, not bad. It was sooooo brown though! I'm worried it wont taste good.

Here it is all prettied up. (I tried real icing roses, but the icing was too warm andthe toothpicks too pointy.)

Ta Da!

I think next week I'll try Stained-glass jello.

St. Patrick's Day

To celebrate St. Patty's Day, I took a well-needed day trip to the cutest tea shop I have ever seen! The Funky Fairy is owned by Mrs. Sherri, she is super nice and sweet and awesome. We talked for hours about her store. She gave me the grand tour and let me prowl at my leisure! The very first thing you see is her display case of antique and vintage jewelry! SO sparkly. My magpie senses are still tingling! She has rows and rows of herbs and teas and spices she sells and soap made from goat's milk, honey, and oatmeal. Upstairs are tons of adorable antiques and a small office. In the back of the cottage is a greenhouse wear she makes gift baskets! There were so many different crafts and antiques for sale! She even talked about buying some of my couture matchboxes to sell. Outback looks like a fairy wonderland with boxes of herbs and vegetables and flowers and two of the friendliest dogs! But the prettiest place is up front at an upholstered garden table and chairs by the kitchen. I had a vegan green tea cupcake with lemon cream cheese icing (although I am not vegan, it was sooo tasty!) and sampled the "Blossoms of Health" tea, which I MUST buy when I return later this week. If you are ever in Killen, AL, you MUST must drop in and see her!

I have to admit my magpie disorder got the best of me and I purchased a jewelry set of a lovely cameo necklace and two cameo and rhinestone drops with vintage screw-back closures!

Pasta Girl Box

So I was bored and desperate to avoid finishing a paper for my class tomorrow (but I finished it anyway) and I went to the kitchen to make pasta. Opening the cabinet, I saw my nifty little plastic container for pasta and thought, 'A cute label would be nice'. So while my angel hair pasta boiled on the stove, I drew up this notecard with a (hungry-looking) spagetti-haired lovely. I used to draw things like this all the time in high-school (ah, free time was abundant there) and I've gotten back to doodling things like this. I may perfect the art a bit and make a couple dozen drawings and see if I can sell them at the art warehouse downtown.

I wish I had a laminator, I put clear tape on the back and stuck in on the inside of the container. It's still very cute. I may draw one up for my tea box. I have a couple already they have girls doing various girly things like getting ready for a date or taking a bubble bath (one is even waist deep in the hood of her automobile).