Halloween Day After Sugar Coma

Yes, Medusa is in the house!
Wow where did this month go?
Halloween was here before we knew it and today we are both
exhausted from all the preparations and parties on Halloween!

But before I crash from what feels like a sugar high~when really I only had like 2 pieces of candy yesterday, I swear,  I just had to post some pictures of my daughters Medusa costume.
 Every year my Mom, my daughter and I gather together to sew "the costume".
I realized that this is really the only serious tradition we have that we always celebrate each year.
The costume was easy to make but it's the talking that happens during the sewing that makes a pattern that should take maybe 5 hours at the very most to put together.....3 days.:)
 She is trying to look evil here, so hard not to smile.
I contemplated making a homemade wig....and then I figured out how much it was going to cost + how much time is was going to take + the gamble of whether it would work out all right.......EBay had me for $19 + free shipping.  It wasn't a hard choice.
Here is my girl with our Dear Sweet Mother.  Oh how I love them!  Last night was quite bitter sweet to me.  My not so little little girl is turning 10 this weekend!  How did this happen?  I realized I'm lucky if I get a year or maybe 2 more of this tradition, of these festivities on Halloween, of staying up late with her counting and organizing all that precious candy.  I cried through my shower this morning just thinking about it.  This thing called "being a Mother" is hard.

Candace's boys wouldn't sit still for pictures again this year~too anxious to run out and get some candy.  She did catch a snap shot of her youngest who is Jake The Pirate.  He refused to wear the wig~it's okay because he's so stinkin' cute!

I survived the class Halloween party and the Church Trunk or Treat I was in charge of feeding 500 hot dogs and bratwursts to.  Candace made 80 sugar cookies for her kid's classes!  I realized I didn't share my pretty wreath I finally made after buying stuff to make it 3 years ago and I didn't get the haunted house painted that I finally got cut out.  November is looking a lot like Halloween craft catch up for me and I intend to paint that haunted house this week!  We hope your Halloween was wonderful!!!  Happy 1st day of November friends!

Orchard Adventures

What do you do when your kids are out of school?

Last week ours were out with Parent/Teacher Conferences

so we decided to have a day of adventure.

 

Growing up in our family we had one solid and true tradition~

Homemade hot buttery popcorn and grape juice along with the Wonderful World of Disney

every Sunday night.

 

Now it wasn't just any grape juice.

Our parents were huge canners and each fall they made their own homemade grape juice.

Each precious jar held enough juice for each of us to have one cup~and boy was it savored from start to finish.  So my grown up quest began.  Now that our parents live close....so does their distiller....

 

Last weekend in my efforts to find Concord grapes

I stumbled upon the most quaint little farm (well that's if you call 80 acres little!) on Craigslist.

The farm had an apple orchard filled with a dozen different varieties,

some of them the most delicious and crisp apples we've ever had.

After growing up in Washington we have a pretty good idea about what makes a good apple,

these apples were not only beautiful they were also delicious!

Our kids had the opportunity to pick grapes for the first time.

They were completely fascinated with a walnut tree~

Candace's youngest even tried to plant one right there on the spot to grow another one.:)

Each of our kids got to pick out a pumpkin and me~
Well after a few hours of brewing.....
I have 30 quarts of Concord grape juice and a wonderful tradition to continue with my own family.

 

Traditions-Halloween Pillowcases

I have spoken before of my "super talented" Mother In Law.  She has had a strong influence on all the seasonal crafting I seem to get myself into.  Every season and holiday, she gives socks.....very colorful and fun socks.  She usually throws in seasonal dish towels too.  I look forward to the little goodie bags she hands out to each family.  Some of the boys were feeling left out, so now she's giving out athletic socks for the boys...and  black work socks for the men. Thank goodness...we always seem to be out of socks around here!

This year she whipped up some Halloween pillowcases for all the grand kids.  I'm talking....(I think) 23  almost 24 grand kids! She plans ahead, so I know she made at least 24. The pillowcases are beautifully stitched to perfection with fun colorful Halloween colors.

My boys love them and their Grammy too!

We'll be back soon with a fun Halloween project you can make with your kids!

A Birthday Wish....

I wish I could take credit for every great craft I've ever seen and re-created...

The wish letters are one of my favorite creations I've made.

Last year one of my great clients/friends told me about a cute idea she had seen and wondered

if I could duplicate something similar to it. 

The font used is a popular font I knew of right away!

  You see I have a thing for fonts....

When most of my little business is cutting out Custom Names for people,

you could say I stare at a lot of fonts.....all of the time......

The font used for wish is called storybook, and the cupcake was perfect for this!

Our friend Angela from Secrets of A Super Mommy

ordered some of these fun letters from me and decorated them up herself.  She added clips to hold very cute pictures of her kids and birthday memorabilia.  Love them!

She did a really cute spotlight over at her blog- so make sure to drop by and visit!
 She also did a fun highlight of the Birthday Banners we sisters prepped and sewed together for their craft group!  Angela made the banner oh so cute!

 She has great ideas and traditions to share!  Make sure to head over and check Angela's blog out!

Now that we Crafty Sisters are "out there" in blogland, sharing the fun stuff~ we are lucky to get to do together, it makes us all the more aware of giving credit to all the great people who have inspired us and hoping that we are shown the same courtesy.

So to give credit where it is due, thank you to this unknown wonderful person,

who's creativity inspired us and all of you!

Thanks to Angela's great post we've had a great response for these letters,

if you are interested in some you can contact us directly through our email

or visit Nicole's Sweet Pickle Design Shop on Etsy.

Cookie Delivery

I love this time of year, because Grandma brings the family her famous Valentine Sugar Cookies.  She seems to be famous for a lot of things, I think you can tell from all the posts about her!

Yum!

His face says it all! (don't mind the haircut he gave his bangs)

Soft sour cream sugar cookies, topped with cream cheese frosting, tons of sprinkles, and one gummy valentine heart.

Here's the recipe, but I do have to warn you, I have NEVER been able to make them like Grandma does.  I think she's hiding something.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 C. butter

2 C. sugar

2 eggs

1 C. Sour Cream

1 tsp. vanilla

(optional) 1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 tsp baking powder

5 C. flour sifted

1/2 tsp salt

bake 375 degrees

6-8 minutes, or until cooked, but not burnt on edges

Cooking time depends on size & thickness of cookie

Chill dough, don't overbake, frost immediately or seal airtight. Use a cream cheese frosting.

Since it was Superbowl Weekend, I thought it would be fun to try some different recipes.

I tried the Pioneer Woman's Salsa. I am in awe of that lady!  What can't she do? 

 Does anyone know how to correctly operate a Cuisinart?  I sure don't.  I think there's more salsa on the counter than in the bowl.

That was fun to clean up. By the way, it is delicious salsa!

We also tried a cookie bar recipe from my favorite recipe site, My Kitchen Cafe.  Yum, Yum, Yum!

Don't Worry Grandma...there's no reindeer in sight.....

As a child my favorite memories of visiting my Grandmother were all the wonderful smells that came from her kitchen. Fresh made scones drizzled with honey butter and especially what was kept in the refridgerator downstairs.  It was loaded with treats, huge tupperware containers of chocolate chips, small, medium, large, and the tastiest peanut butter rice crispie treats frosted with even more chocolate.  I don't think any of us complained when we were sent to the basement to play!

My Grandmother was an artisan of chocolates!  She attended a little candy demonstration at a local high school and picked up a few recipes she became famous for making. The little candy company doing the demonstration was See's.  She started making the treats at Christmas time for her friends and family. Eventually she had my Grandfather shipping in chocolate by freight truck.  One year they had about 2 tons of chocolate and popcorn delivered from San Fransisco.  As a kid my family lived in Korea for about 3 years and I can still remember quite vividly the precious package of her chocolates coming in the mail at Christmas time from America.  It was almost magical opening up that box and savoring every bit of the love from our Grandma.

The last two years I have gotten together with my own dear Mother and made her famous fudge and caramels.  Candace was stuck at home with some very sick little boys and was sorely missed.  We girls have so much fun together in the kitchen!  This year we perfected the scrumptious candy cane fudge and my little girl had a blast licking every last drop of the marshmallow creme from the jar.  I don't know which was sweeter, the fudge or the memories of a yummy tradition that has now been passed down to 4 generations!  I searched quite a bit tonight and finally found my favorite photo of my wonderful Grandma and a photo from a special book made for her by my Aunt about all the things we loved about her and Grandpa. 

So do you have a favorite sweet you make during the holidays?

Sharing a bit of our Christmas.....

I've seen all these fun Christmas link tours and thought we'd join in before it's too late!  Over the years Nicole and I have had a lot of fun creating at Christmas time....I think that's what got us into all this crafty stuff...ORNAMENTS.  In our family...we decided  that instead of buying gifts for each member of our family...we would each "hand make" ornaments and exchange.  This is really special and it's fun to pull the ornaments out each year and reflect on years past.

I had Nicole send me a few of her favorite ornaments from our family exchange and from her yearly Christmas crafting and tell why they are special.

Nicole said....

"Newly married and poor, these stars were my version of some pretty

mirrored and grouted star ornaments I saw on tv. I broke up some

mirror and glued them onto a paper mache star. Yes, sad by themselves

but they reflect a lot of light and remind me of my humble beginnings

as a crafter."

 

~This year's baby Jesus, Avery hates that he has no eyes.

~My most popular ornament and Avery's favorite baby Jesus.

~Saw a idea of these several years ago and wanted to make my own version.

~Candy's gingerbread man she made for our first ornament exchange.

I loved each little one she made and was happy we had some no-shows

and I got to keep her cute creations!

~Prim Angel~First bazaar I ever did and made ornaments out of scrap wood that

Ace Hardware was throwing away. Only 30 people came into the bazaar

the entire 8 hours I was there. Needless to say, I have alot of these

on my tree!:)
~Mermaid in memory of our trip to the beach in South Carolina last summer.

~Japanese ornament~Brandy made these to represent their time stationed in Japan with

the Air Force, they were embossed onto velvet ribbon. Love them!

~First ornament exchange where I carefully stitched each heart.

Grubby Snowman~This was a pattern from last year I actually followed and learned

something from. It is made from muslin, painted, sanded, rubbed down

with coffee grounds and brown shoe polish, it was fun and cool to

make! I hid one away for myself and sold the others.

Mom/Dad ornament-love that it's them and that it was their wedding picture. This ornament celebrates 40 years together.

All time favorite, made by Avery last year at preschool for me!

******************************

Thanks Nicole!  Now we'll move onto some of my favorite decorations in my home (Candace:)

I love "pretty" Christmas...my mom always had beautiful decorations, sparkly..shimmery...golden things.  It wasn't until my husband and I spent our first Christmas with my mother-in-law that I discovered homespun, gingerbread men, tons of nativity scenes, giant knit stockings stuffed with goodies.......cozy Christmas. I loved it! She would make real gingerbread men and string ribbons through them to hang on the tree, and some to EAT! I think she may have at least 50 nativities tucked through out her home. She makes the most beautiful Christmas quilts too, AND, she's a legend in her neighborhood for outside light decorating!  She individually wraps each limb of her trees and ties them down with twisty ties!  It's brilliant! My mother in law took me to my first Christmas boutique...and I was hooked on crafting and creating!  Living near to her has influenced my Christmas style.... I love both pretty Christmas and Cozy Christmas!  I can have both!

 Here's a few pictures from around my home~

I love red berries!  I love using them in wreaths, garlands, the tree....in glass bowls.

My mother in law knits these AWESOME stalkings for everyone in the family and also puts their name on each one!  They are fun and boy do they ever hold a TON of stuff! They also have a tradition in their family of filling each other's stocking with kind notes through out the season.

I have several of Nicole's wood letters tucked on shelves in my home....I just love them!

My favorite thing to do is to raid my mother in law's stash of crafts and recreate them.  She had this great Nativity I fell in love with and this is our version of it!  Love it! I learned how to make my first miter cut on this!

My kids love this funny little moose...or is it a reindeer?

My mother in law also loves to give each family wonderful Nativities.  This one makes me laugh!:)

I love a pretty red poinsetta.

A few years ago, Nicole and I made our own version of the Pottery Barn advent calendar.  Treats don't last long in these pockets with my little ones!

This is my baby's new stocking...my MIL is so fast at whipping these puppies out!

A couple of years ago my mother-in-law distributed pieces of cloth with drawn nativities for all the grandchildren to color with fabric markers.  She used some of the original pre-colored squares and some of the grandchildren's colored squares and then sewed them all into a Christmas quilt for EACH family.  She's amazing!  I love that my children made the sheep GREEN!

My MIL also makes each of us beautiful wall hangings.  I love this strand of ornaments!

  I picked these cute furry stars up at my first Christmas boutique with my MIL.

I put up a small tree for the kids and their fun ornaments. They needed some BLUE lights to make them happy.

I love the Willow Tree nativity!  I really love the (BUFFALO?) in it!  That's what you get when you have boys!:)

Here's my TREE.  I wanted a PRETTY tree this year.  I used lots of red berries, pinecones, glass balls stuffed with fake snow, and these pretty snowflake ornaments. I wrapped some extra burlap around the tree for a skirt.

Hope you enjoyed looking and Merry Christmas! :)