Merry Christmas!

From my family to yours, may I wish you a most wonderful holiday season!

WestJet Christmas Miracle

Seriously. Grab a tissue.

A Christmas Letter

Dear Friends,

In between unwrapping gifts and cooking Christmas lunch, I wanted to stop and take a minute to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!

I've had a really wonderful 2012.  This has been, hands down, the  most interesting year I've had in a long, long time.  So many times I have been faced with new opportunities I didn't expect (not all that turned out the way I originally hoped they would), found strength to accomplish things I didn't know I had the ability or stamina for, and made friendships that I didn't expect to find or love quite so much. 

Many of you have been a part of my incredible year, either directly or indirectly, or possibly you've only followed my progress and journey and cheered me from the sidelines.  In whatever capacity you find yourself here with me, to all of you, I thank you. 

May the love and peace of the season be with you today, and all days.

Merry Christmas,

Angie

Texting Santa

Mashable got ahold of Santa's phone this year.  Santa should really be more careful.  Here are my favorite convos...

Justin Bieber:

Morgan Freeman:

An overly attached girlfriend:

Mariah Carey:

Mars Curiosity Rover:

Just a little holiday humor to get you through this beautiful Christmas Eve!  I still have a gift to buy.  WHAT?? 

I know, Santa. I know.

Safe travels to those of you on the road this holiday season! 

Merry Christmas!

From our house, 

to yours,

we wish you a 

Merry Christmas!

On the First Day of Christmas: Castiel

So it's not the first of December.  And it doesn't fit the song.  Or ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas.  Unless I continue to 21. 

"21 Chocolate Covered Cherries..."

I may actually do this.  It could be a new tradition.  A post a day at Christmastime!  ANYWHO.  This weekend, in spite of my very best intentions, I got NO sewing done.  (Tissue bodice admiring, yes).  That doesn't mean the weekend was totally wasted!  For example, yesterday I made another ornament for my tree.

May I present to you, Castiel, Angel of the Lord:

Since it's quite probable you have absolutely no idea who that is...Castiel is the angel on the tv show Supernatural.  His besties are Dean and Sam:

Dean and Sam need to be little clothespin ornaments too. Yes?

If you look to the right of Castiel on my tree, you might recognize those two... It's Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Complete with sideburns.  *swoon*

Or do you prefer Colin Firth? (Who doesn't?? No really.  I'm curious.  Who prefers the remake over the BBC Pride and Prejudice?  Anyone?)

Before Dean and Sam, I must, MUST, make Mary and Matthew:

*Swoon* again.

These are my favorite ornaments to put up every year.  I have 8 now, including little Castiel.  I used the templates from the Martha Stewart website.  There's also a video clip of the Christmas special segment where she and a coworker made the little ornaments.  One of my very favorite episodes of Martha Stewart; I still have it recorded on VHS!

I also made my Christmas cards this weekend and sent those off to the photo lab.  I love to send Christmas cards, even though I rarely get any in return. WHY don't people send cards anymore?  It's such a sweet little cheery envelope in my mailbox in December. 

You know what we should do??  We should have a bloggy Christmas card exchange.  Quick! Somebody make a yahoo group and we can all enter our mailing addresses and swap cards.  Let's do it! 

And now it's Monday again.  SIIGHHH.

Christmas is comin'

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

Although I didn't plan to, I think I'll take a little holiday from posting over the next few days.  This time of year just flies by faster and faster and I barely feel like I've begun to get into the spirit yet (and now it's almost here!).  I've got baking and wrapping and holiday movie-watching and cookie eating and hot chocolate making and...

you get the picture.

My warmest Christmas wishes for all of you.

⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, 

and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, 

and laid him in a manger; 

because there was no room for them in the inn.

 ⁸And there were in the same country 

shepherds abiding in the field, 

keeping watch over their flock by night.

 ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord 

came upon them, and the glory of the Lord

shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them,

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,

which shall be to all people.

 ¹¹For unto you is born this day

in the city of David a Saviour, 

which is Christ the Lord.

 ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; 

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 

lying in a manger.

 ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel

a multitude of the heavenly host

praising God, and saying,

 ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, 

and on earth peace, good will toward men. 

A Very Disco Christmas

Why yes, I did just steal your heads and put them in a Jib Jab Disco Christmas Video.

Mwuhahahahaaaaaa......

**takes a minute to load...SO worth it**

(you can also watch HERE)

Starring... 
Moi
Shannon
Kristine
Heather
Shannon

(The rest of you are safe ONLY because I haven't found a head shot.  Yet.  I'm talking to you and you and you and you.)

A Simpler, Quieter Life

December is flying by and once again I haven't had time to settle down and enjoy the time leading up to the holidays.

link

I have Pinterest boards for both Christmas and handmade Gifts, but I haven't had time to even peruse them.

Next year seems so far away, and yet I found myself just this past weekend thinking about planning better next year.  

SERIOUSLY?

Shortly after that I realized my life could stand to be a lot simpler.

 

 link

I started by unsubscribing from every company in my email inbox.  Two hundred plus emails a day is 195 too many.

 

link

Then I got really radical and deleted my Facebook account.   

I originally created my FB account when I was doing business on ebay sewing toddler girl's clothing.  Then I kept it because I discovered my tiny babies were suddenly teenagers and I wanted to keep up with them (and their friends). 

link

Then all my coworkers and friends (old, new and barely met yet) had a Facebook.  So I should have one!  Except...  it kinda creeps me out.  It's always creeped me out.  It's terribly invasive.  It's time-consuming.  It's a new and improved way for people to be rude and unkind to one another.  It's a neverending mish-mash of TMI.

 link

I really loathe it.  So I deleted it.

And I feel so much better. 

link

If you're my friend or family member, chances are you have my phone number and/or address.  Call me.  Or write a letter.  Or, you know, email me one of those really important emails I actually want to read.

And if you're my child, well, I already know what you're doing and what your friends are doing because I talk to you every day.  Every. Day.  And I like that much better than Facebook.

 link

I plan on continuing to find ways to simplify and pare down my life.  What do we really need?  What makes me truly happy?  What do I cherish the most?

link

Happiness lives inside us all. 

Set it free.

Speaking of crafty gifts...

Kudos to Pinterest for inspiring my creative side when all I want to do is nap.

 

apron in a jar.

 

spray paint thrifted frames, add corkboard.

 

Scrap paper + thrifted frame.  Add dry erase marker.

 

white tiles + scrap paper + mod podge = coasters! 

 (add felt to bottom)

 

my fave...a perpetual calendar.  brilliant.

could use...covered buttons glued to flat-top tacks?

Now accepting...crafty gift idea goodness.  Inspire me not to nap.  Please.

countdown...

 

Can you believe it??  

We should have a handcrafted gift sewalong.  Any takers??

if you've the notion to create...

'specially with the Big One only 92 days away, I think these are the CUTEST.

Source: Elizabeth's Embellishments

Obviously, you could just buy them too.  Er, no.  Really.  You could.

holy night.

Wherever you may find yourself on this most peaceful, joyous day,
I wish you love and happiness.

St. Thomas Choir of Men & Boys
video link via youtube

first little gift

Last weekend I had the chance to stitch up this little pillow for a Christmas swap I'm doing.


The prim snowman design is from Heartstrings Embroidery. All of the Christmas fabrics were ones I had in stash. I think they were mostly from Hobby Lobby. I used 3" strips to patchwork a border around the wool felt embroidery.


That's the sum total of my sewing (for others or me) for the past week. But I'm off for Thanksgiving now, so hopefully I'll have things to share!

Not today though, I'm leaving in a little while to shop with my sister & Lu, and then we're off to dinner and this:


Have a great day!

it's that time again...

(and vintage/recycled)

Have you started Christmas shopping yet? I've bought a total of one (1) thing. Hmm. I might be bit behind pace, considering November is HALF OVER.

So I headed over to Etsy this morning to see what I could see. I love handmade, but let's face it. We make our own clothes (um, when we actually sew) and jewelry is about the only "handmade" item I buy for myself. Other than possibly scented candles or soaps. Ok, I never actually buy the soaps, but I do spend a lot of time looking at them.

ANYWAY. I personally interpret the "buy handmade" tag to include recycled/upcycled/vintage/previously-loved items too. After all, they don't make 'em like they used to. Here are some bits and bobbles and sundries I covet.

You know I'm a bow girl, so these speak sweet nothings to me:

vintage rhinestone bow pin

hammered silver bow necklace

In the "Emma Pillsbury would wear that" category...

enamel poinsettia brooch

vintage sweater guards

For the vintage seamstress in your life... (erm, vintage as in "loves vintage", not as in OLD. KRISTINE I'M TALKING TO YOU. /ALLCAPSSHOUTING)

1930s tailored dress

1950s *gorgeous* wiggle dress

For the shoes-are-my-crack set:

ah-mazing 1940s red leather pumps

"I'm crying that these are too small"

1960s buckle shoes

the Hello Green Coat of Awesome

And...I'll stop there. Because it's so much more fun to peruse Etsy for the things YOU love. Er, I mean the things your GIFTEE's would love. Because you wouldn't be shopping for YOU this close to Christmas.

Uh huh. That's what I thought.

brrr.

Well, we had a white Christmas! Did you?


More pics of that and some furry cuteness in just a second. First though, I can finally post pics of the single handmade gift I crafted this season. I would be more ashamed, but the 3+ weeks of flu I suffered seriously cut into my usual Christmas craftiness. Sooo...here she is. Miss Kitty²:


She's pretty fetching, don't you think? Her boggly eyes crack me up (I used 1940's plastic buttons from my vintage button tin). The pattern can be found in this book by Jenny Ryan, Sew Darn Cute.


Technically the pattern is for a Square Bear. But my Lu loves kitties, so I just redrew the ears and added some kitty-like whiskers to her little pink, embroidered nose.


Lucky for me, while Lu may be fast outgrowing all things dolly (sniff), she still appreciates a good plushy! Just some details on Miss Kitty²: She is made from mint green wool felt (head, back & extremities), a cute "3 pigs" Japanese linen for the body front, and red rickrack accents. I used scraps of quilting cotton in a retro print for her ears, and pinked all the edges of her ears, arms and legs. She also has a red satin bow tacked to one ear, because she's a sassy kitty.

Now on to weather pics, in case you're on the beach and need to see the white stuff. It's been several years since it snowed on Christmas here! But it was blizzard conditions all night Christmas Eve, and bitterly cold. (It's still well under 30 degrees F.)

This is from Christmas morning in my back yard; the wind was whipping the snow so hard it made your eyes water!


See? Oscar says Brrr.


So does Megs.


Refrigerated Farm Food:


Jessie:


And one more of little Os, who actually loves the snow and would have stayed out longer. Except I'm a wuss and made him go in with me.


Christmas was wonderful, and over too soon. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday too!