Christmas Music Countdown

'Tis the season

for my current

Top 5 Christmas Songs:

5) Let it Snow  (Because I miss the possibility of li'l white flurries falling from the sky and blanketing the earth below for a glistening white Christmas.)

4) Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (It's my favorite Christmas movie too!)

3) Silent Night  (Was taught this one in sign language at church when I was just a girl and have always loved it.)

2)  White Christmas (Sang this one to my first kidlet when he was a newborn, even though it wasn't Christmas time because Girl Scout & Christmas songs were the only songs, in that severe sleep deprived state that I could remember the words to!)

1) The Little Drummer Boy  (Currently, the kidlets and I are absolutely hooked on Pentatonix rendition of this Christmas classic. Nothing like a li'l beatboxing to modernize a traditional favorite. Have a look & listen!)

 

If you listen to Christmas music, what is your current fav?  Song?  Album?

In addition to more Christmas tracks than I can count (heavily laced with Christmas music from Glee), we're also enjoying Kelly Clarkson's newest album, Wrapped In Red, and more from Pentatonix  (which is new to us this year)! 

      Affiliate links are used.

Merry Christmas 2012

 

Our tree is lit,

presents under,

kidlets sit with wonder.

 

Grandparents travel to see loved ones,

and family gathers

to celebrate what matters.

 

Celebratory goodies bake in the oven,

candles and sparkles on the table,

for loved ones to create the year's splendid fable.

 

May whatever holiday you celebrate,

whichever way your candles light,

may your season be merry and bright.

 

 

December Daily

December Daily.

 

I tell myself, year after year, to jump in and document December's tale.  Last year, I recorded some of our December stories...though, they never made it into an album of sorts.

 

The whole idea behind #DecemberDaily is to document the traditions and stories occurring throughout our days this coming month.  Ali Edwards creates foundation pages before the first of the month to streamline the process.  And then simply adds photos and words for each day of the celebratory month, documenting both the big and little things life offers.

 

And while it is last minute...again...I can't help but be infected by the enthusiasm for the project shared across the blogosphere, Pinterest, twitter, flickr, and Facebook.  It's as if social media has lassoed me and is pulling me in.  How can I resist sweet family memories and glittery, shiny Christmas bling?!

 

Do you document your stories?  Do you document December differently than other months through the year?  Do you December Daily?  Yes, it's a verb. ;>

 

I've collected a few links from around the interwebs for #decdaily inspiration:

 

Ali Edwards December Daily pages, of course.

 

December Daily 2012 Flickr group.

 

Becky Higgins shares a delightful compilation of Christmas traditions from her readers.

 

Elise Blaha's 2011 holiday minibook is full of inspiration & she has assembled minibooks in her shop too.

 

A Pinterest search always yields oodles of ideas.

 

And remembering to actually use my own Christmas Pinterest Board is nice too.

 

So, where is December taking you?  Go!

Santa's Smiling Treat

Just a li'l Christmas share today, before wrapping up the holidays here.

The kidlets dutifully left Santa and his reindeer a thoughtful GFCF snack. They said they want Santa to be healthy. But, the kicker was the smiley face they left the Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies, mug of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and carrots in the shape of.  (Yes, the carrots got a li'l wonky in transit from the kitchen to the living room. Nope, didn't fix it - it's their effort, I'm just documenting it!)

Guess they thought Santa deserved to be greeted by a smile upon arrival. They knew he had been traveling for quite a long time by the time he hit our house. Did you know he even visited the International Space Station this year? He did. That Santa Tracker that the kidlets had me refreshing on my computer all night said so!

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I regularly purchase Pamela's mini cookies (the ginger ones are my fav, the chocolate cookies are the kids' fav variety) and the Silk almond milk (it's delish in my coffee, when my son doesn't drink it all...the almond milk, not the coffee!) with my own money.  Affiliate links are used in this post.

Merry Christmas!

It's been a whirlwind of Christmas activities in this li'l dot on the globe.  And as exhausting as it all has been, every last bit has been worth it.

Our days have been filled with lights, tree hunting & decorating, school field trips, singing, bell ringing, Christmas crafts, shopping, wrapping, Advent Calendar ornament hanging, gingerbread house candying, card making, GFCF Christmas menu planning, more shopping, more wrapping, more singing, and a whole lotta family smiles and laughter.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!  May the holidays that you celebrate be filled with loved ones, giggles, hugs, and fun!

Christmas Music

It's been awhile since I last updated my Christmas music - awhile, as in everything was on CDs.  Now, while I do love some of those CDs - Il Divo: The Christmas Collection, Sarah McLachlan: Wintersong, and Josh Groban: Noel - they're a few years old and it's time to update!

And these are the directions I headed in:

Admittedly, I came to the Glee party nearly a season late (gasp!). But oh my, I haven't been able to get enough since climbing on board Glee Train.  Naturally, I had to check out their first Glee Christmas album from last year!

And while I was getting my holiday Glee on, I had to go shopping for the Glee Christmas Album Volume 2 - of course!  Mercedes' (Amber Riley) All I Want for Christmas is so lively it's perfect for when the To Do list starts to get overwhelming. :>

I adore listening to this guy!  Michel Bublé sings his snazzy Christmas album as only he can and we love it.  My girl's favorite on there right now, is his Jingle Bells with The Puppini Sisters - so fun!

What are you listening to this holiday season?  I've been updating my whole music library, so if Christmas music isn't a holiday you celebrate or simply isn't singing it's notes to you, what are you listening to?  Any new favorites?

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I purchased the music myself, this post is not sponsored, and there are affiliate links included.

Worth the Click: Holiday Inspiration & Freebies

Hopping around the interwebs, I've found a few fantastic holiday freebies to make your season just a bit more festive.

Becky Higgins has free templates with instructions for your Holiday Cards in three different sizes, including the one you can use to have Costco print your photo cards.  They even provide the matching envelopes!

Jessica of vol.25 has free unique holiday tags that you can print, including wood grain to cut into strips for paper ribbon.  How cool is that?!

What about fonts?  Fonts, especially free ones make me shake with glee!  dafont.com has a handful of free holiday fonts with alphas and images.

Katie at Smile Like You Mean It has a cute handmade snowman ornament tutorial you can check out.

And if you're simply looking for Christmas ideas?  It's Pinterest to the rescue.  I'm having an all out love affair with that scrumptious online rendezvous.

Feel free to check out my Christmas Pinterest Board for some ideas!

Are you starting to feel a festive spirit?  If you don't celebrate Christmas, I'd love to know what holidays or traditions are special to you in the coming month.  I love to hear what makes people smile!

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Celebrating { Creative Traditions } Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas

I may not be sharing a whole lot of papercrafting as of late, but it is something that has made me smile for the last seventeen years, since I first visited a rubber stamping store that I later worked at.

One of my favorite December traditions is coming up very soon...

Come December 1st is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas!

Papercrafting, stamping, mixed media, inky joy is sprinkled all around during those twelve days.  Quite literally, I find myself on a high every night I can stay up 'til 12:01 a.m., when he posts the next day's tag or first thing in the morning if sleep found me before the clock ticked past midnight.

But, that joy isn't just for me!  In addition to all of Tim's great fans around the globe, I happen to have one little one right here with me.  My wee girl (she's probably officially not 'wee' anymore, but I still think of her that way!) adores Tim and all his creative creations.

She begs to watch "Mr. Tim's" videos on YouTube and to see what inky, painty, stampy tag he has created for her today (okay, okay, so maybe not for her...but, don't tell her that! ;>).  Her eyes widen and glisten with sheer delight.

"Mom!  He has paint!  Ink!  Look at his hands!"  That last bit would be in reference to his stamper's manicure which she knows I always love to see on my own hands...because it means I found time to create - hands on.

Sometimes creativity is simply something I enjoy for myself or with my girl.  Sometimes creativity is put to use for others.  One round of Tim's tags inspired me to make sets of Christmas tags for my son's teachers' gifts.  Practical and creative!

Whether paper or stamps or paint or ink or altered items or the holidays bring you delight, I do hope you find the time to bring a little creativity to your days in this busy, chaotic, fun, joyful month that will arrive on our doorsteps in just a few short days.

I know where I'll be heading to recharge my creative batteries for at least twelve of those days.

What about you?

GFCF Christmas Cookies & Apple Tart

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and now we're enjoying some fantastic family chill time....even the kidlets are happy to be in on it and are quietly playing.  I hope you have had a great weekend too!

But, let's zip back in time a touch to Friday morning, Christmas Eve.  I did not get to holiday baking this year, but I had picked up a bag of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Shortbread Cookie Mix. 

And I was treated to a fabulous early present........hubs got up with the kidlets and by the time I dragged myself out of bed, he was already baking Christmas cookies with them!  (Hubs made two small alterations to the recipe on the bag. He used ghee, instead of butter to make it casein free (CF) and two egg yolks, instead of one.)

Our sweet boy made GFCF shortbread Christmas tree cookies.

And wee girl was all about making stars.

And then hubs got creative and decided to roll out enough of the left over dough to try using it for a GFCF apple tart.  This is a pic of it before it went into the oven.  I was madly wrapping some presents before my inlaws arrived when it came out, golden in color and smelling quite delish!

And of course, Santa and his reindeer needed their treat to keep them fueled up for all the houses they had to hit in one night, right?!  I got quite a chuckle when I saw what Color Me Katie's little brother left for Santa, his reindeer, and the iguanas along for the ride!

Hope your holiday was fantastic and full of smile worthy moments!

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Disclosure:  The cookie mix link is an affiliate link.  If you choose to use the link it might cover a few bites of those yummy cookies....if my son will share the last one with me. :>

Merry Christmas {de}Lights

No, this isn't my house.  But, it is on our annual Christmas lights drive!  (Actually, they do up a pretty spooktaculus Halloween themed display as well! :>)

The kidlets & I were late getting out on our eye spy adventure full of Christmas cheer this year.  Thankfully though, we did get to see many a twinkle & a glow.  And now...

I am sitting here in the quiet of my house

With only a clock ticking and oh my, I sure hope there's no mouse(!);

Handmade stockings are hung, above a gas fireplace with care,

In hopes that Kris Kringle will soon be there;

The children will be snuggled all quiet in their beds,

While images of a fat man & his reindeer flit in their heads;

And hubs sound asleep & me, here with you

Presents await pretty paper, tape, and tissue...

Oh me, oh my, there's still more to wrap?!

My goodness, what keeps me here,

May I ask that?!

Well, if I might answer my own question, the answer is YOU!  Thank you for visiting, reading, saying hello.  I can't tell you how much I enjoy reading your comments, connecting, & visiting so many of you!

To any & all who are celebrating, Merry Christmas!!  I do hope it is one of cheer, with a light or two, maybe some holly & mistletoe, and most of all, a smile.  And of course, if you're not singing carols, trimming a tree, or lighting a candle, I still wish you a most smile worthy day!

Teacher's Gifts with Etsy Love {Sunbasilgarden}

Took my boy to school this morning, for his last day there in 2010 and in hand we had his GF/CF Coconut Bliss chocolate 'ice cream' bar for him to eat at the class party and his teachers' gifts.

Often, I hand make their gifts, but I knew that time would run short this year. Thankfully, when I saw Sunbasilgarden's uber cute hand crafted soaps, I knew I had a great solution!

He has two great teachers, one received the Pink Sugar Cupcake Soap and the other the Fresh Pear Cupcake Soap.  Lauren, the woman behind Sunbasilgarden, also sells the four cupcakes as a cute set, packaged in a bakery tray.

His aide received an adorable, don't ya wish it was summer, Lime Water Ice Soap.  And again, Lauren sells an adorable gift set with all four flavors, er..um...I mean scents.

The cupcakes & ice water soaps all came with cute tags on them for me to write on, but since its for Christmas, I replaced them with these adorable retro tags I found online.  Print them on cardstock and simply cut them out or add glitter, Stickles, or use a spica glitter pen to add a little festive flair!

This Pomegranate Paradise Salt Soap is in my shower right now.

And while Lauren is closing up Sunbasilgarden for Christmas in a couple of days, doesn't this Winter Wonderland Soap with scents of peppermint and vanilla sound perfect for January?

Or how about some Hot Chocolate Whipped Soap?

And the bar version of Hot Chocolate Soap....aren't those marshmallows cute?!

Under the Christmas tree are a couple more cute Sunbasilgarden soaps all wrapped up.  Did you do any Etsy shopping this holiday season?

And I'm Tickled Pink, bringing all this cuteness to school today and because Holly has featured my art journal cover on her Tickled Pink post today!  I'm quite happy to link up again today...come play, so I can visit you too! :>

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

Creative inspiration wise, this is my favorite time of year!  And if you are a papercrafter, you probably know why.......that fabulously creative guy, Tim Holtz is back with his 12 Tags of Christmas, starting today!!!!  Ahhh...happy sighs.

But, wait!  Even if you do not paper craft, I would bet that you could & can find inspiration from Tim and highly recommend running clicking on over and checking his posts out.  He is one of my regular stops all year round.

And while I never need convincing to go check out what Tim is up to in his studio, I did absolutely love the little video he made for us in anticipation of this year's 12 Tags of Christmas.  Check it out...I've watched it..ahem...a few times now!  More happy sighs.

I really must run now, there is grunge paper, ink pads, paint, and a wee girl (who adores that man and his technique videos!) calling my name!  What creative calls do you hear this time of year?

10 Reasons why I am Ecstatic about {Fall} - Writer's Workshop

Time to play/write along with Mama Kat and this week, I'm choosing prompt #5, "10 reasons why you’re glad it’s Fall." 

Hmmm.....I don't think that's good enough.  How about 10 reasons I'm ecstatic its Fall?!

1)  We have a kidlet birthday to celebrate!  And just as soon as I cringe that one of my babies is getting another year older, I smile & celebrate how they've grown & see the happiness across their face.

And there is happiness whether I stock the party with store bought decorations...

...or hand crafted decorations for a custom themed party.

2)  And before I blink my eyes, mini pumpkins of many hues are scattered about the house (depending on wherever whichever kidlet moves them!) and we're off to the pumpkin patch, a favorite family outing, to get the big ones.

Red wagons, chickens, a pig, sheep, half dozen old tractors to sit in, a hale bale pyramid that lets them climb to the skies, random farm kitties, and of course, oodles and oodles of pumpkins to ooo and ahhh over, pick and choose, and come home with four to six perfect for us pumpkins.

3)  And the night before Halloween, we gut, seed, and carve those plump pumpkins.  Most end up with jagged smiles or sinister faces, but at least one gets a detailed carve every year.  C-3PO and R2-D2 was mine!

4) Kidlets in costume!!  We've had The Great Carrot, a monkey, Cat in the Hat, race car driver, Mr. Incredible, Snow White, Buzz Lightyear, Aurora, Batman, and Cinderella parade these halls.  And rumor has it, we will see Harry Potter and either a scary witch or another Aurora trick or treating this year!

5)  November brings on cravings for edible pumpkin treats.  Scrumptious and savory roasted pumpkin seeds from all those carved pumpkins are enjoyed by all and since a kidlet went GF/CF (gluten & casein free, among other things that have been removed), close to three years ago, we try new holiday recipes every year.  Last year, it was delicious GF/CF Pumpkin Bread, which will make an appearance again soon enough.  And this year, I will finally make that GF/CF pumpkin pie!

6)  Cool, crisp air combined with rustic deep reds, golden yellows, and screamin' oranges make me giddy!  Then when those beautiful leaves fall, its a race to see who gets to crunch it.  In my past, I've even hobbled on crutches to get the best crunchy leaves and now, must admit, I've even cut off one of my own kidlets to get to that crunchy leaf first....but, where there is one crunchy leaf, there are many to go around. :>

7)  Thanksgiving!  We first arrived at our own perfect turkey recipe pre-kidlets for a Four Musketeer gathering here back in 2001.  And in the years since, it has been refined & made absolutely moist & scrumptious.  I'll let you in on just one of our turkey secrets......instead of butter on top of the bird, Hubby (who is ever so kind for cooking Thanksgiving dinner every year!) puts a couple of slices of bacon on top for the duration of the roast.  There are a few other perfect & moist turkey secrets, but we'll save that for another day! :> 

8)  And after turkey day, we love our family outing to pick the perfectly tall Christmas tree!  I request (demand?) a tall one every year.  And the kidlets ooo and ahhh and giggle and cannot contain their excitement, which always make us smile just as brightly.

9)  And then there's the magical twelve days in stampy, inky, creative, crafty land that make so many of us giggle with childlike giddiness that is brought to us by Tim Holtz himself...his annual 12 Tags of Christmas!  Here are a few Tim inspired & guided tags that I made to pair up with dozens of smaller ones for teachers' Christmas gifts last year.

And as if the inspiration alone that Tim provides wasn't enough, he does giveaways all twelve days....and last year, I won one of them!!  Look at all those beautiful fabby Tim products!! :>

10)  And there's another kidlet Fall favorite that is mine as well because of the great thoughtfulness behind it.  An Auntie & Uncle always kindly got my kidlets a chocolate advent calendar every year.  But, once the GF/CF diet change was made, the regular chocolate advent calendars were no longer edible for one kidlet.  After a little research, she found a GF/CF one from Peanut Free Planet!  Wooohooo!

I could probably list another fifty things I love about the Fall season.  But, I'll spare ya & stick to the ten! :>

What are your Fall favorites?

Tim Holtz Tag & Christmas Teacher Gifts

Rocky Candy, how I love you....let me count the ways..... Well, if I truly did count.....this post would go on and on and on and on and on and on and ON! {And since I'm already a chatty gal, I'd rather just leave room on the post for that chatter!} But, needless to say, I LOVE the stuff, both the Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint alike...thank you Tim Holtz!

Here are some of my tags that I made based on his first inspirational tag from Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas:

I made five total. These three went on top of the blank Stampin' Up! tags I made for my son's teachers' Christmas presents this year.

In addition to the uber fabulous Rock Candy Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint, I loved how I made my snowmen! I do not have Tim's fun snowman stamp, so I punched out three circles, taped them together, layed them on top of Grunge Paper (I didn't even realize it was Grunge Paper and not Grunge Board, until he did a tag later down the line with it.......then I went back and looked and what do ya know!!! :>), traced and cut out my snowmen.

Next, I inked them up with black ink and embossed them twice with clear embossing powder. I inked up the snowflake stamp with Versamark and then pressed it down into the embossed snowman while the embossing powder was still warm. When it cooled down, I removed the stamp and it left a snowflake depression in my snowman (Thank you Claire for showing me that technique! :>). And then I added the white paint, followed the rest of Tim's instructions, and I had SO MUCH FANTASTIC FUN!!!! I felt like an inky, sticky kidlet making these and I think I had a permenant Chesire smile etched into my face! :>

Using assorted Stampin' Up! tag stamps, I made fifty-four tags, eighteen for each teacher. I used my Spica glitter pens to add some sparkle, some crystal Stickles for snow, and threaded each one with coordinating embroidery thread.

To present them, I threaded through each set of tags with a double strand of silver cord, put a signed large Tim snowman tag on top, and tied them off. School let out a week before Christmas this year, so these were practical for the teachers to use on their gifts. Practical, crafty, and fun makes for a great gift in my book and hopefully, in their books as well. These three women have been wonderful assets in our son's life and we are thankful for all of them!

Supplies:
Cardstock: White - Georgia Pacific; Certainly Celery - Stampin' Up!; Pure Poppy - Papertrey Ink; turquoise & blue - Stash
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue - Stampin' Up!; black - India Ink; Faded Jeans, Broken China, Worn Lipstick, Weathered Wood - Tim Holtz Distress Inks for Ranger
Stamps - Stampin' Up! (all except snowflake....$ stamp from stash)
Other: silver ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Grunge Paper & Board, Stickles, Distress Crackle Paint, Spica glitter pens - Copic; Paint Dabber - Adirondack; Versamark ink; clear embossing powder, embroidery floss & fibers - Stash

Merry Christmas!

After staying up late to wrap presents, my eyes are puffy, and I'm a wee bit tired. But, truthfully, in the end, seeing someone's face all lit up when they have a wrapped present in their lap, is worth it. :>

I like the little things in life. Its the little things, life's little moments, that make me smile. I thought I would share a few of those little moments that have placed smiles on my face and in my heart this season.

* Strolling down memory lane as I took each ornament out and hung it on the tree.....made me smile!

* Handing my Princess a box of ornaments to hang all by herself for the first time....made me smile!

* An Auntie taking the time to track down a gf/cf chocolate advent calendar......makes me smile!

* Children racing, checking the date to see whose turn it is, to open the next door on that advent calendar......makes me smile!

* Taking the kidlets on our annual Christmas lights drive.......made me smile!

* Hearing squeals of delights and sounds of awe when we saw a beautiful or fun display of Christmas lights.....made me smile!

* Cheering a friend on and smiling from the inside out when we all welcomed one of my closest friend's newest baby into the world.......made me smile!!

* Singing Christmas songs with my kidlets......makes me smile!

* Listening to my son sing in his Winter Concert......made me smile!

* Getting inky and making some Tim Holtz Christmas tags.....makes me smile!

* Winning one of Tim's giveaways during his 12 Tags of Christmas and having a couple of girlfriends immediately know that it was me because of my :> greater than smiley face smiles.....made me smile!

* Telling my son that the present he just shook and swears is Legos is really just a box of rocks....made me smile! (Don't worry....he's laughing too!)

* Having Hubby home for four days this Christmas.......makes me smile!

* Chatting online with my best friend last night while I was wrapping presents.....made me smile!

* Family and friends, emails, phone calls, cards, pretty pictures, smiles and happy faces....make me smile!

* And of course, YOU and this fabulously fun blogging world.....make me smile!!!

Thank You!!

Source: freefoto

Oh Christmas Tree

December sure is zipping on by, isn't it? So fast, that I think it has done a December disappearing act! My jaw hit the floor (THUD) this morning when I realized that it is the 20th already!!! I've been sick for a week, along with Hubby and our Princess. Our Monkeyman is the only one to have escaped this ....... tap, tap, tap ..... knock, knock, knock .... ... Pound, Pound, Pound ...... that would be me, being a wee bit superstitious and um, knocking on wood! I'm hoping we're all healthy for Christmas at the end of this week. The end of this week ????!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHH !!!!!!!!! (Yes, that would be me running .... screaming .... waving my hands in the air!!) AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a little card talk will calm me down!! As soon as I saw Making Handmade Cards button eKits, I knew I wanted to use them to make a Christmas tree card with them! Tie in a little embroidery thread and a PTI bow and I was a happy gal!

Now, I'm usually a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas colors and I have a hard time deviating from the traditional red & green. I can add in some blues and metallics, But pink?! Well, my oh my, I took that leap across the canyon from the traditionally colored Christmas forest to the one colored a la Candyland...... and I liked it! A little fun with a Funky Christmas and button eKits, some ribbon corners, and more embroidery floss and a pink Chrismtas card sat in front of me .... it even makes me smile.:>

If you are curious about eKits, Sign up for the Making Handmade Cards free newsletter and get a free eKit to play with!

Back to life, back to reality (OH! that is sooo going to be stuck in my head all day now !).........

My inlaws arrive on Wednesday and my 'To-Do' lists are just a wee bit long. Those lists encompass all of this week's to-dos as well as most of last week's as well. Last week was my Monkeyman's last week of school this year and I was delighted to hear him sing "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Deck the Halls" in his Winter Concert. I got inky with some of Tim's tags and some SU Christmas tags for his teachers. But, mostly, in between taking care of my family, I curled up with a book, a blanket, hot tea, and read with the lights of our beautiful Christmas tree aglow, reminding me of my favorite time of year.

I hope you are enjoying this season! What holiday memories are you creating this year? If you don't celebrate at this time, what December delights are making you smile?

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas!!

Its the most wonderful time of the year..................................Tim Holtz is doing his 12 Tags of Christmas again this year!!!! I have SOOOOOOO enjoyed his creative bonanza at the beginning of December the last two years and can you tell that I am excited that he will be doing it again this year?!!?!! Yahoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! If you have never followed Tim for this, definitely be sure to hop on over there and visit him during this time....each and every day for oodles of creativity and inky fun!!

Sparkle and Shine!!

Uh-oh........it has begun. What? What's begun? The Christmas music! The Christmas music that pops in my head throughout the whole year has started to escape from me. I found myself singing "Winter Wonderland" this morning. While I was lucky enough to experience the wonders of a white Christmas as a kidlet, snow doesn't visit these parts very often.....at all (as in decades between light dustings!). So, I enjoy the white wonders of Christmas through happy, snow filled, winter Christmas music!

So, how about a little sparkle reminiscent of Christmas? Okay, okay, so its a birthday card, but the red glitter sure does sparkle and make me want to get Christmas crafty!

In April, I made a card with the intention of giving it to Hubby for our anniversary (but, that is a whole other story.....). I really loved the simple elegance of that card and so I gave it another go and just changed up a couple of things. I kept it to two colors, like the first card, but changed the black to red. And instead of using bling/gems, I went with an all over sparkle, using a technique called burnished velvet (using glitter) that I used here for the first time and learned about from Dana at Paper Daydream, who saw a fantastic tutorial for this from Spike at Cuttlebug Challenge Blogspot.

Yup, yup, it definitely has an all over sparkle! Not the greatest shot, but I really wanted to show you just how much the burnished glitter really does sparkle and shine!!

Do you have any Christmas songs singing in your head? Or are you just trying to get ready for Thanksgiving, if you are in the States? Would you believe that I have yet to start thinking about what we need for Thanksgiving dinner? Well, except for figuring out how to make a GF/CF pumpkin pie, which I am putting recipes together for, but have yet had the chance to try out....yikes!

Hope you're heading into a fantastic and relaxing weekend! I have some trips out to Mom's, lots of cleaning as we have friends coming the day after Thanksgiving, and apparently, working on that GF/CF pumpkin pie recipe! :>

Supplies:
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy - Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Damask Designs
Ink: Real Red - Stampin' Up!
Glitter: Garnet (fine) - Martha Stewart
Other: Quickie Glue Pen - Sakura

GF/CF Chocolate Treat Advent Calendar

Would you believe that three, count them, three packages for Christmas arrived on my doorstep today?! And I did not order any of them! While I usually have all of my Christmas shopping done by now, I am behind this year. (Really, really behind......listen closely, you might even hear a whimper or two!!)

One of my closest friends, who is an Auntie to my kidlets (and her husband, a wonderful Uncle), grew up with a chocolate treat Advent calendar to open every day of December, leading up to Christmas. And she has continued her family tradition with my kidlets.

Since we changed our son's diet two years ago, they have been unable to enjoy the chocolate treats under each door. Well, being a good Auntie, she did some research and emailed me a link for a GF/CF Chocolate Advent Calendar, wanting to know if she had found a solution. And while several of the ingredients (soy lecithin & refined sugar), we avoid (but are not 100% removed from his diet), we told her that it should be okay for the little bit (he splits it with his sister) that he would be eating for a short time. We will see after he has it the first time if that is really the case.....fingers crossed!

Our kidlets' calendar, from a mighty nice Auntie & Uncle came from Peanut Free Planet. And while I cannot give you a review of how it tastes yet, I can tell you that it arrived very safely packed, in a zipped bag, wrapped in bubble wrap, packed in packing peanuts. I know my kidlets will be excited for the treat........as this kind of treat is a very rare one in our house!

{Oh yes, and if you are wondering, "Where's the picture?!".....I did not take one as I do not want to spoil the surprise for its intended recipients!! }