This year I want to....

not necessarily in this order....cool editing done in PICNIK

what are your plans this NEW year?

Wishing you the best New Years EVER!

may all your resolutions, wishes or plans...come true.

linking this up to the following parties:

freestyle friday

friday favorites

ta-da tuesdays

xo

tina



Happy holidays

Merry christmas to you and yours - may you have a special and blessed weekend.

See you next year!

xo

Holiday House tour

Hello and good morning-tis the season for some Holiday house tours they

 are going on all over the place in BLOG land and I thought I would join in...

this is a great shot of my living room - and yes that is my gold tree

The next few photos are of my mantel! I love the way it came out

this year. I left it fairly simple and added some pieces that I made to

the walls.

Below is a painting I made years ago when country was COOL.

painted it with acrylics on an old window panel... that there

snow-girl - is one of most treasured gifts...from my hubbs...

I love those vintage mini houses and I love this one because it is pretty big. Dreamy!

this photo is of some of my newer pieces from the hubbs...he is great at

choosing these vintage inspired pieces.

I made that small burlap bag sitting next to my snowman box...

I'll share that tutorial next time...

I made up this small snowglobe with no water below

I was inspired by some globes I saw at ANTHROPOLOGY 

just added a Santa

Please visit my other blog

http://www.prettypaperposies.blogspot.com

for the how - to on the snow globe...

The tree below is NOW the kids tree - where they decorated with every one

of their favorite ornaments - everyone is happy.

p.s. this tree is in the kitchen...

and the tree skirt is one I found years ago and decided to use as a

yearly growth chart - it has all 4 of my kids hand prints on there year after year.

kind of neat to see their hands get bigger every year.

it's a real treasure.

I have more to share - hope your holiday decoration is done

and maybe most of your Christmas shopping too.

I am linking this up to the following parties:

HOLIDAY HOUSE PARTY @ jenifer rizzo's

Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year!

xo

tina



Baking Frenzy

it's that time of the year...when the oven is on daily and the house is smelling like

yummy goodness...

I have been a busy little baker these days and have made quite a bit of cookies

I wanted to share a bit of what I have been up to...

I made some of these yummy peppermint cake cookies (just named them that)

I think they have an official name  but I can't remember what it is

I got this recipe from

SUMO'S SWEET STUFF -

pay careful attention to HER directions

because I didn't and the first batch turned into cupcakes...of which I didn't need

but here are the yummy cookies - don't they look fabulous - I used peppermint

kisses instead of mint kisses - my hubby and kids loved them better then the

chocolate on chocolate ones....the best part is they like a small bite of cake

just rich enough - YUMMERS!!!

Here is one up close...needless to say they are all gone as of today...

Here is the second batch of cookies I made

soft ginger snap cookies and YUMMERS x 100!!!

that's the word from my hubby - he adores these

and can you guess where I got the recipe

yup - from sumo again! which was BY guest blogger SEW DANG CUTE CRAFTS 

She has the serious cookie scoop

make sure to visit her and see if she has got anything else you

may be interested in trying.

So excited with the first few batches of cookies that I forgot to set the timer

on the last one and burned them all - dang it! what a waste - but the upside is that

the house smelled divine for quite sometime last night.

second round of baking begins Thursday - making more ginger snaps & cake cookies

and adding peanut butter & pumpkin chocolate chip cookies...

ohhh - yeah! I love baking this time of year.

linking this up to the following parties:

whatever goes wednesday

we did it wednesdays

i love blogging wed - hop

sugar & spice

i made this

Hope you are getting your baking on.

xo

Have a great Wednesday!

tina

Cookie Wreath

OMG-can you believe that Christmas is only 5 days away....where did this

year go. I have been a busy little baker, gift wrapper, personal shopper, party planner,

party thrower, taxi driver & calendar scheduler...I was able to make up this really sweet

cookie wreath I got from the website VERY BEST BAKING & thought it looked easy enough...

Here is the finished product:

Here are the ingredients:

chocolate chip cookies

(to make it quick use the pre-packaged kind)

some store bought icing, 1 fruit roll up & some m&m's

I added some icing to a small Ziploc bag & some green food coloring

I guess you could leave it white - duh!!!

then just cut a small hole into 1 pointy end and begin to add dots to the

plate where you will be placing the COOKIE wreath on.

Dot icing - then add cookie

Keep going around dotting & placing for your first row...

for the 2nd row add a line of icing to the back of the cookie

so that it can grab onto the bottom cookies

Then stagger these cookies - between 2 of the bottom cookies

like this

this is what the wreath looks like when all the cookies are stacked

last but not least add the bow & tails from the fruit roll up and

use the left over icing to add the m&m's in all the right places and

wah-lah!!! you are done

I think this is definitely conversation in the making when you show

up with this at your next party!!!

martha Stewart eat your heart out! (heehee)

xo

I am linking this up to the following parties:

market yourself monday

craft-o-maniac

just something I whipped up

too cute tuesday

ta-da tuesdays

Here's to your final preparations for the holidays

tina



old time Christmas

o.k one party down and now to prepare for our party

here on Sunday...gosh it's been pretty crazy busy over here...

almost tiring but I LOVE that this time of year, lights the fire under my tush...

I live for chaos and pressure. Weird right? anyway,

I made this cute card up and wanted to create a vintage feel to it...

I used some fun Melissa Frances paper & just  stamp I have had

and added some fun prima poinsettias...

what do you think?

I am really diggin this.

I am linking this to the following challenges:
party time tuesdays - red & green xmas
tuesday throwdown - for someone special
for fun challenges - anything goes christmas
fresh brewed designs - christmas
the sisterhood of crafters-christmas

Hope you have a fun Sunday. time to get ready for another party.

xo

tina

something sweet

Just taking a quick break from the traditional Christmas card and decorating for a few moments

and decided to make a bright and cheery card using another fun image from CDAC

isn't he the cutest?

I left the card without a sentiment so that it could work for various occasions.

Great idea - right?

I think this would work for someone special, a new baby, just hello and even maybe cheer up!

I am linking this cutie up to

CDAC - progressive challenge

tuesday throwdown - for someone special

have a great day

tina



SNOW happy

I am so lovin' the winter-y weather we are having right now in Sunny Cali...

I hear the mountains are covered with snow...may have to take the kids up there for a sleigh ride.

I was lucky enough to get a visit from a sweet and kooky snowman

this is Neil...doesn't he look like a NEIL..a bit odd & nerdy but still cute...

I wasn't sure about the layout of the card or the colors but this paper

by October afternoon made it all come together...Cute?

If it's snowing where you are stay warm & if it's hot where you are

keep cool...have a great 2 weeks before Christmas...

I am linking this up to the following challenges:

friday mashup - snowmen

play date cafe - color challenge

going grey - snow cards

aud sentiments - winter holiday sentiments

xo

tina



It's a Good Day

Today is a good day...

mainly because it is my little girls 11th birthday today

she is becoming such a wonderful little lady - she is smart and funny & sassy

let's not forget a cutie too.

Another reason today is good - is that it's rainy outside - it feels like winter

I am also feeling the pinch of the holidays - meaning the hustle & bustle.

I like the stress of shopping & wrapping and baking...

It wouldn't be the same if I didn't feel rushed...

I wanted to share this sweet pin I made literally this morning for my birthday girl

step 1: - I typed out the BDAY message

step 2: I punched out the message and used some CS to mat it

step 3: (not necessary) I laminated the message

Step 4: I made small ribbon petals to add to the back & used hot glue to adhere them

then added to longer ribbon tails to finish it off

FINAL STEP: added a pin back and pinned the princess

She was thrilled with it.

As it should be...

I am linking this up to the following parties:

market yourself monday

craft-o-maniac

just something I whipped up

meet me monday blog hop

one project at a time

ta-da tuesdays

mad in crafts

show me what you got

have a wonderful day!

xo

'tina