Brownies

The best part about baking...getting to lick the beaters and the bowl.

I'm Running Out of Titles!

I'm running out of titles for my posts. All my posts have a little bit of this and some of that. My blog, just like my brain, is not cohesive. haha. Hey! No mean comments! : )

Let's just start with a new picture of the 1 month old. She is becoming super smiley. This is not her big grin. I have yet to capture that one on "film" (Ahh...technology).

Next up, what else? Felt food cupcakes. Lots of pinks - they are intended for Valentine's Day.

"Olive" You Valentines. They even have their own little packaging - perfect for a little gift. I have a lot of fun making these even though I can't stand the real thing!

Okay, more pictures of the baby! : )

Sunday

Don't be fooled! Neither one of them is sleeping.

It appears we have a squirrel or chipmunk in the house. And apparently, it takes two bites out of every apple to find the best one to eat. We have named the critter Sydney.

Never a dull moment over here. : )

More Baby Pictures

Here is some new pictures of Aubrey taken last week.

I'll post some more pictures of the girls later this week.

loVe

Sister Pictures

Is it possible?

Is is possible to have the same child two times in a row?! Matt found this earlier picture of Sydney when she was a week old. The only difference I see is that Aubrey has more hair. Craziness!

Aubrey

Bellingrath Gardens

Last night, we took a trip over to see the Bellingrath Gardens Christmas Lights display. It was beautiful! The whole gardens were covered in lights and the weather was perfect to walk around to enjoy it. Here's just a few pictures. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to take good pictures of Christmas lights in the dark.

Merry Christmas!

Picture with Santa

Sorry for the fuzzy scanned picture but here is Syd's picture with Santa.

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 12

These are little fabric candy canes sewn together to make a heart. I thought it would be a good photo prop and a way to use up some fabric scraps. I really have no other ideas of what to do with it after that! haha. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the 12 days!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 11

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 10

Today's craft is sewn stockings. The 3 in the middle my step-mom patiently made. We've always had the Bucilla Stockings. It started with my grandma making the first ones. This year my parents are coming in for Christmas so I wanted some coordinating stockings. I traced the original stockings for the size and embellished them with more felt, sequins, and beads. I made the white with red flowers and the green diamond pattern (all the way in the back). And can you believe we only have 2 days left?! Crazy.

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 9

Okay. So this isn't the most Christmasy post. I was hoping to make this little bird into an ornament or something but I can't pry it away from Sydney! This little bird is from Cupcakes for Clara. She makes the most adorable little creatures. I was thrilled when she had her bear pattern in Making Stuff for Kids. I used the bear pattern and transformed some of the pattern to make a cardinal. I was thinking I could make a reindeer too. I just think they are too cute!

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 8

What's 12 days without cupcakes!? : ) I wanted to find some peppermint cupcakes and stumbled upon a Sprinkles recipe for Vanilla Peppermint Cupcakes. Even better! Just like every other Sprinkles recipe or mix, it's very good and highly recommended.

In other news, I'm only do one felt food giveaway this year and today it the day. You could win a dinner set and a poptart. Go here to enter a chance to win.

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 7

I've seen a lot of silhouette pictures and ornaments lately so I figured I could try it with some birds on pillows. The birds are cut from felt and sewn onto red corduroy. The pillows behind them have ruffles on them. You know, the ruffles you can't see very well in the picture. : ) It's a green polka dot batik fabric. My favorite pillow is the bird on the right - again, Christmas in July anyone?!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

For this craft, I was just playing around with different ways to wrap presents.

The top present, I stamped Sydney's name with paint onto fabric binding. I really like it because you can totally customize it with names or phrases.

On the bottom left, I took cheap ol' crepe paper and sewed it into a ruffle. I like it, well, because it ruffles - and cheap.

The bottom right present is just as easy. I took paper, punched the edges with one of Martha's new punches, and wrapped it around. This paper lace ribbon is very popular now. So my motto goes "I'm not paying that! I can make it myself." : )

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 5

Ooh, today is my favorite craft out of all the days. I've wanted to make one of these for a couple years now. So last year, I bought a bunch of ball ornaments on sale after Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't buy enough so I had to raid the ornaments I already owned. Not a big deal though. It's just so sparkly and shiny, it's mesmerizing. I have it hanging on a mirror over our couch and I'm debating how long I can leave it there in 2010 before it becomes a little weird. Is it okay to have Christmas decorations out in July? : )

Here's some pictures of the process - just in case you want to make your own. It's super easy, just make sure you have enough ornaments. I'm pretty sure I used more than 100 ornaments. Way more than I expected. I just attached everything with hot glue. There is no right or wrong way either.

Step 1: Take all the "hanger" pieces off the ornaments. Then, I glued the biggest ornaments on first in an even pattern around the Styrofoam wreath.
Step 2: Glue the next size down ornaments on.
Step 3: It's starting to fill in now. I just continued gluing on the smaller ones.
Step 4: This is the finishing stage where you fill in all the extra space with the smallest ornaments you have. Not all the balls are connected to the wreath either. You just glue them all on to one another. You just fill in anywhere you can still see the wreath.

It took me one evening to do this. Easy - I promise. Just don't burn your fingers on the hot glue!

*Update* Thanks everyone for your kind words. A few added notes. I hung it by a ribbon that I "threaded" through the wreath and the ornament balls. I used a 12" inside diameter foam wreath.

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 4

The "see-through" scrapbook paper (aka lace cardstock) is all the rage so I figured why can't you do that with fabric. My idea: a table runner! I was hoping you would be able to see the table underneath the snowflakes. So I took a big area of fleece fabric and cut out the snowflakes. It's all one piece of fabric. It took a lot of patience, planning, and time to cut everything out. It was pretty flimsy after I cut out the snowflakes so I decided I needed to sew it onto some fabric for stability. So there went the "see-through" idea! haha. Oh well, I still am really happy with how it turned out.

12 Days of Christmas Crafts - Day 3

Great kids craft from Martha Stewart's staff. Unfortunately, it's an old idea so I can't find the link anywhere so you guys can get the template. Sorry about that. It's just felt, glue, and candy canes. Sydney loved making them.