I find it hard not to make at least a little something handmade when I give a gift these days... I'm sure that won't last too long, but it's true now and I have a wedding shower to go to Sunday, so... I was going to make a tea towl apron - just sew on tea towel to another perpendicular to each other, add a ribbon tie and a ribbon neck band - but BOTH the sewing machines at my house aren't working. I had gotten some felt to make a cute applique flower on the apron, so instead I did flowers on two of the towels, just to make them a little more special. Here are the towels before:



And after:



The colors look really washed out in these pictures - the towels are definitely light, but much prettier than in the photos!

Labels: sewing

I finished this a while ago, but I only remembered to take a picture right before I wrapped it for Christmas, and then I forgot to post the picture... Oops!

This is a scarf idea from the Crystal Palace website, made with Merino Frappe and Shag - a nice warm wool blend, but still really soft. I'm pretty happy with the way it came out, though I wish the colors matched a little better.

Labels: knit/crochet

Believe it or not, we had a white Christmas here in Houston! It is so hard to imagine. It didn't actually snow on Christmas day, but it snowed a lot Christmas Eve, and it was all still on the ground when we woke up Christmas morning. It was probably a once in a lifetime experience, and it cheered up Peter since he was wishing we had gone to San Antonio with the rest of his family... So here are some pictures I took:

Here is how our backyard looked. It was fun to get the dog to run around in the snow (he didn't really know what to make of it). Baxter wouldn't walk on the patio because the melted snow from earlier had frozen and he didn't like the ice on his paws.


This picture totally doesn't capture our bushes, but I had to try - the Christmas lights were shining through the snow on the leaves, and it was really beautiful.


Peter's car had been sitting out all night, so it gives a good idea of how much snow was sticking.


Finally, I took a picture of our house Christmas morning. I will never forget this Christmas! A white Christmas in Houston... I still can't believe it.

Labels: misc

So Peter keeps joking that he wants to take my huge 11x14 bridal portrait in to hang in his office... Instead we're going to hang it above the piano, but I thought he might like a more appropriately-sized picture of me for his desk... Well, being the crafty scrapbooker that I am, I couldn't just frame a proof. Instead he's getting this:



The red grosgrain ribbon matches our wedding colors, and I liked the feel the aluminum accents give. I think he'll love it!

Labels: paper craft

Since I'm a good neighbor, I slaved over the stove to make yummy candy for everyone near us. Okay, so the peppermint bark and Oreo bark, and even the toffee, are really easy... The peanut brittle is easy too, but just a little stressful because of how fast you have to do everything at the end, and it takes a long time standing there stirring to get it up to the right temperature... Anyway, Peter thought the presentation I had for giving this stuff away looked cool, so I thought I'd post a picture:

Labels: cooking

Well, I finally got Blogger updating again - it was my fault after all. Oh well!

So anyway, I made a scarf in one night! And I love it! I took a picture, but I haven't uploaded it yet, so I'll have to update this post tonight with a picture. Finally, I can start posting again! I feel silly now for it taking me so long to get this working...

Check back tonight for a new picture!

Update: Finally, the picture I promised! Took longer than I thought because of the whole hard drive crasing thing... The red is so pretty in real life, and it's really warm since it's wool, but not too scratchy.

Labels: knit/crochet

Wow, I can't believe how much I've gotten done in the past two days! (Skip the next paragraph if you just want to see pictures!!) Monday night I made peppermint bark and the dough for a double batch of both gingersnaps and jam sandwich cookies (must think of a better name for these). I also put photos in the albums I'm sending all the grandparents, and started the notecards I'm posting below. Last night I helped Peter do a few chores to get ready for our furniture delivery and Mom and Dad staying here, and then I got to work finishing the baking and crafting. I rolled, cookie-cut, and baked all the tops and bottoms for the sandwich cookies, and while they cooled I baked all the gingersnaps. During baking, I made title pages and notes for all three photo albums, and finished the notecards. Then I filled the sandwich cookies, and got everything bagged and ready to box for the mail!! This morning I got up early, and now have everything packaged for mailing. As soon as I post this, I'm going to put on my shoes and head over to the post office - hopefully the line won't be too long and it won't cost too much!!

Okay, now the fun part. This card set is made with 7mm silk ribbon, used like embroidery thread. The large pink flower was my first, and I learned a lot on it. I think if I did these again they'd come out a lot better. Here are all four cards:









And to be complete, here's how I signed the back:

Labels: paper craft