Christmas Celebrations

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We started our celebration last weekend in Lawrence where my in-laws made a delicious feast. My mother-in-law put together a very tasty pomegranate champagne drink, mint leaves and all. Looked festive and pretty for our holiday dinner:

Champagne, Pomegranate Juice, Ginger Ale, Pomegranate Seeds & Mint Leaves - Mix to Taste. She also got fancy and froze mint leaves into the ice cubes!

A few days later, we celebrated Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house with my family and had another delicious feast! The dinner was followed by a lot of chocolate - a yule log and tumbleweeds. Best part of the evening was definitely baby Leni and the fun she had opening up her presents...love her!

Unfortunately Dustin was sick on Christmas, so he didn't get to enjoy Christmas morning with us at my mom's. Then the next day I caught whatever he was sick from, so I've been couch bumming the past couple of days. Hoping to wake up tomorrow magically healed! Hopefully your break has been healthier than ours.

Lots of Love,

Eat, Drink & Be Merry!

Last week I had a very festive, very holiday character filled party with some of my fabulous friends! It was such a great night and the co-hostesses and I had a blast setting it up...that got entertaining! About a month or so ago, we sent out these fun invitations from Paperless Post to make sure people marked their calendars:

Wanted to start the party with a fun note and getting "Elfed Up!" seemed to do the trick. I took a lot of pictures, so I will let them do the sharing of the event:

Snowman cheese ball! We made two cheese balls (one smaller than the other) with 2 packs of cream cheese & a clove of garlic minced. Best to let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. Then day of stack them using a small pick and cover with shredded mozzarella. I  sliced a small piece of carrot for the nose and used chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons - so cute!

For fun marshmallows, dip the ends in food die (add a few drops to a small cup of water)! Perfect for the hot chocolate we served.

Amy Hopper's amazing lemon cookies and Trader Joe's chocolate covered Peppermint Joe Joe's!

Cheese Tree: Cut a cream cheese block diagonally and match up back to back making a triangle shape. Then cut the star and steam from green peppers. I added a yummy raspberry preserves dip on top from The Plaid Giraffe. 

Had to make the new bar cart festive for the party! Check out the original bar cart makeover here. We used the fun paper coffee cups for Hot Chocolate spiked with Peppermint Schnapps!

Wreath Salad: Broccolini, Arugula, Cherry Tomatoes, Mozzarella Balls and spritz with Olive Oil - love how pretty, yet healthy it is!

Obsessed with my new holiday platter from MacKenzie Child's!

Photos via me

Items in the pictures: MacKenzie Child's Black and White and Holiday serving pieces, dish towel, vase & paper napkins, rose hand painted goblets | Juliska salad plates & cereal bowls  | Threshold Gold Flatware | Oh Joy! for Target goblets, green pitcher & tree paper napkins | C Wonder elephant bottle stopper | Annie Glass gold edge serving pieces

It was such a great night and I have such wonderful, beautiful (inside and outside) friends! Love a good night of eating, drinking and being merry...

Amy, Paige, Rachael & Alycia

Ryan, Hailey & Amy

Jenna, Shannyn, Shelby & Aubrey

Special thanks to Amy Johnson, Amy Hopper and Paige Gade for helping host the party and keeping me sane! Such a fun way to ring in the holidays. Hope you all have had some fun celebrating yourself!

Lots of Love,

That's a Wrap!

Finally started wrapping up my gifts for the holidays! I found the fun red and white paper while shopping with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law at IKEA. I loved the red and white stripe and to my surprise, the back has polka dots! I then went to Michael's and purchased three different ribbons in red and white - wanted each packaged to have it's own touch - and I bought some shiny ornaments to add to the bow. I think they turned out festive and full of holiday character...

Photos via me

I found the cute "Santa" bag at Michael's - they have lots of different options. I love it for bringing gifts around and it was only a couple of dollars. Great for filling with children's presents. Have fun wrapping and share any good ideas you have!

Lots of Love,

Painted Bag - Rifle Paper Co. meets Martha Stewart

Last month when I was flying to Florida, I picked up a Martha Stewart Living magazine and my heart skipped a beat when I stumbled upon the Anna Bond article. On her Instagram, I have seen her amazing hand painted Kate Spade bag she did for Fashion Week in Paris - I die! So, when I saw she was talking readers through a how to paint a bag, I figured I had to give it a try. I loved the fun shape and color of the Baggu bag, plus the paint colors she chose. If you purchase the magazine it talks you through the directions and tells you where to get leaves to trace - go out and purchase immediately before they switch months! If you feel comfortable with painting leaves, I think you can free hand them. I practiced on paper free handing and then I started painting the bag. Takes a little patience, but overall it's a pretty quick craft. I love how it turned out!

Make sure you let the layers dry. You will also have to go over things a couple times to really fill it in, especially the light blue and gold.

Before and After! Yes, I got a couple to paint because they are so fun - one is maybe ending up as a Christmas gift for someone :)
Photos via me

If you love to paint, give it a whirl! I loved painting the Baggu bag because the leather was soft and I felt like the brushes glided over nicely. I know they are a little more expensive, but if you are wanting a bag that you love, they have great pieces.

Lots of Love,

2nd Craft Fair Recap & Shop News!

How is it already 5 o'clock on Sunday! Our weekend was jam packed because I did another craft fair yesterday at Canton-Galva High School. I'm happy to report is was a successful Saturday and I had fun selling lots of hair ties and Little Boxes of Character! Of course Frozen was extremely popular - great way to get little girls to bring their moms and grandmothers over to the booth. I also sold some of the final's week boxes and sold lots of hair ties - great stocking stuffers! Dustin's Aunt Bonnie works at the school, so she was my personal "hype girl" telling everyone to come see my booth - Thanks Aunt Bonnie!! Here are some pictures from the show:

I have some baby hair ties available if anyone is in need!

Now onto the shop news I mentioned in the title - exciting! I am working on opening up my very own online store! There is a lot of work to be done to customize my shop website, but I have at least narrowed down which website builder to user - holy moly there are a lot out there! I'm so very excited and hope you are too. It will have all of my boxes, extras and silhouettes for you to order.

Until my shop is open, please e-mail or Facebook me if you would like to order some boxes - I still have Christmas and Final's Week boxes if you would like me to ship some out for you! They are really fun and would brighten someone's day:

Photos via me

Lots of Love,