Craftistic Christmas

Well, another wonderful Christmas is in the books. As always there was too much food, too many generous gifts and a barrel of wonderful laughs. Before the festivities began there was a ton of work that went into getting ready. This is almost the best part for me all the planning, baking, gluing, wrapping. I love it. So below are a few of the things that I put together.



Cards, this year I tried to simplify. It never works. I still ended up with 4 card designs! I know – maybe I should have just picked one, but I was having way too much fun! Below is my favorite of the group.

This was my favorite!



This year I tried something new with the kids’ gifts, and I think that I worked out pretty good. Instead of making gift tags for all of their gifts (really, I know, but I do – I just hate the ones from the store). I decided that they would all get bags, with their names on them, and then I would wrap all the presents and put each in the corresponding bags. Much easier, you do need to do one child at time to stay organized though. This definitely something I will be doing again!



How cute is the girl modeling the bag?



The ghost of Christmas past….I saw this under my Mom & Dad’s tree when I got there on Friday, I thought that this bag was gone, it was one of the bags I made like three years ago, I wish someone would give me a present in it I would throw it away!



Where do I start with this?



All in the family, this is a tree skirt that my big sister, Denise made for me this year. It’s great I love it!

Love it when everyone gets into the crafting!

The next generation....all of my nieces and nephews are extremely talented in many diverse ways. I am however trying to encourage my niece Dana to embrace her ‘crafty’ side. This is picture of her – after making her first card, about an hour after she opened her gift!

Complete with Marshmallow gun, and her sister's sock!

Hope your Holidays were as wonderful as ours, Hope that there are many more to come....

Later

~Cyn

Sticky Christmas Situations, and I’m not talking about the Eggnog

Christmas is almost here, and along with the peace and goodwill, it also brings along the potential for some awkward etiquette situations. Most of these have simple solutions and can be handled without missing a beat….

Sticky Situation #1: You receive a gift from someone that you did not have a gift for in return.
First, respond with a “aren’t you sweet, but your really didn’t have to” and Thank them profusely. This happens a lot, there are many of us out there, that like to express our gratitude, or friendship in the form of a little something, something around the holidays. Many of us do this for the simple reason that we enjoy the process of putting together a gift for the someone, most of us are not expecting anything other than a ‘Thank you’ in return. But, if you feel like you must reciprocate, invite your friend to lunch or for out for coffee to catch up after the holidays, your time and friendship will make for the perfect gift. **A side note regarding Christmas cards, if you receive a card from someone you did not send one to, send them a New Year’s Card in January. Many people don’t send out Christmas cards, but Happy New Year’s cards, they will think this was your plan all along!

Sticky Situation #2: You receive a gift that you will never wear/use/or decorate with it.
Even the best shoppers have make mistakes. But, do not hold on to something that you do not need or want (this is how hoarding starts) – so send your Thank you note, and it either put this in your re-gifting closet, up on ebay, or donate it to the goodwill. Do not fall into the thought that you must wear, or display the item in question. These rules however go out the window if the gift is from your Mother. Wear it or display it immediately!

Sticky Situation #3: You are at a party, trapped in a corner talking to the boss’ wife/drunk co-worker/or your crazy neighbor.
There are several methods for getting unstuck from this situation. There is the bathroom break, where you fake a need to visit the little girls room (only attempt this when the person you are trying to get away from is of the opposite sex – they will follow you), there is the ‘I’m being a bad guest, I need to see if the hostess needs some help’ – again, only do this if you are talking to a man (we know they won’t volunteer to help!). A classic made easier by cell phones, ‘I need to check in with the babysitter’ excuse yourself, and make a bee line to a quiet spot. The no-fail is of course ‘It has been wonderful catching up with you, but I just saw so and so, and I really need to speak with him/her regarding book club/PTA/world peace, have a wonderful evening’ – and then walk away, before they can respond. It’s a polite way to remove yourself gracefully.


Now of course these happen all year long, with birthday parties, and 4th of July picnics, they just always seem to be magnified with it being the Holiday season (but isn’t everything?). Don’t be so hard on yourself….Enjoy the Holidays and the Eggnog!!



~Cyn

These are a few of my favorite things.....

Like Oprah I feel it is completely necessary that I share my favorite things with the world, although I’m not sure people will care about mine as much as they care about hers. Unlike Oprah, I will not be giving one of everything to my studio audience. For two reasons mostly, I do not have a studio audience, and these companies are not giving me anything for free (at least not yet!). So here it goes, you will notice, that based on my list and her list, Oprah and I have little in common, mostly due to the fact she has way more money than I do!


Sweet Leaf Tea – in one word “Yum” I discovered this about a month or so back at Potbelly. At the time I was trying to give up soda pop (I’m still trying) and so I was looking for alternative. It is so good, it’s green tea with spearmint and honey is my favorite. On the inside of the each cap is a ‘Grannyism’ my favorite so far is #30 “MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX”. So far I’m spotted these delicious teas at Potbelly, CVS and Target. But I’m sure they are all over the place.  Oh, and it's organic, a bonus!

See my awesome shark pencil holder in the background?

Taco Bell Cheese Roll-Ups – have been making a ‘at home’ version of these for years. All it is cheese melted and wrapped in a flour tortilla. Simple, cheap (79 cents), and portable. It is the perfect treat while you are out running errands. In case you are wondering, the at home version contains diced tomatoes and sour cream. Always have to upgrade don’t I?

RCA Portable DVD player – how in the world did I make it this long without you? We are now inseparable and I’m burning through the Netflix DVD’s at a maddening place. It is going to be great for car trips, although so far I’ve only used it to sit on the sofa with my sweetie and watch a movie while he watches whatever poker game or NFL game (I am truly only interested in the following NFL teams; Steelers (Big Ben), the Browns (home town allegiance), and the Colts (Peyton Manning)) I don’t want to watch. I’m flirting with the idea of taking you on the train, but I’m afraid I will miss my stop and end up in Wisconsin.

Netflix  – I’ve been a big fan for the last couple of years, and with the expectation of the recent price increase that caused me to drop my number of at home DVD’s from three to one (really, $19.99 for three DVD’s at once, steep considering that most of the movies I want to see I cannot get until about a month after they release due to the deals Netflix has made with the studios, I have seen most of the movies by then via On-Demand). But I really love that I can stream some movies and TV shows through the Wii. I have spent many nights catching up on TV shows I wanted to watch but never had the time for. I wonder if that is good or bad. By the way, this was one of Oprah’s favorite things too, so we do have things in common.

McCormick Recipe Inspirations – when I first saw these in the store (they are seasoning packets), I thought, who would buy these, I have all these seasonings and spices at home. Turns out I was totally over estimating the amount of spices and seasonings I have at home. So now I understand the marketing genius behind this. One day I was at the store, and I was looking for something to go with shrimp, since I had some at home and I was totally tired of my awesome shrimp stir-fry, and I came across this packet for the Shrimp & Pasta Primavera, and it was easy and so good. The recipe comes with all the spices you need, it was super easy and very fast. I would even recommend it for a weeknight dinner. The next one I’m going to try is the Caribbean Grilled Steak. They have inspirations for all different kinds of meats and I fully plan on working my way through all of them.

**Right now they are running a Sweepstakes, you could win, $$, spices, even a KitchenAid mixer.

Of course, there are a million other things that I consider my favorites, little things that make my days good smoothly, and more importantly keep me entertained. But these are currently on top of the list. I’d better post this before that changes!

Go forth and enjoy!  Is it terrible that most of these things are food??

~Cyn

Thanksgiving Weekend..

So I know everyone has been waiting to hear how are Thanksgiving weekend was (I'm totally kidding), but it was pretty unremarkable.   No really major incidents.   We headed to Ohio where we enjoyed some yummy Pizza Wheel pizza (to quote Jeff - how do people know where this is?  Me - We just know).  Then spent some quality time with my sister and my nieces. 

Thursday I decided that I would make a centerpiece from things I found in the yard, boy did that make my Dad grumble (you are going to put leaves from the yard on the table?). I was pleasantly surprised at all the wonderful leaves, and branches, I even stole one of my Mom's Halloween pumpkins.  The table looked wonderful, and the meal was do die for.  My Mom cooks a mean turkey.



How pretty is that?

 On Friday we did alittle shopping, but was brutally cold.  My big scores of the day were at Target, lots of Christmas presents for the kiddos, and some new sheets and pillows for Aunt Cyndi and Uncle Jeff.  Then we headed back to my parents for breakfast and a nap!

Saturday was the big OSU/Michigan football game, it was ice to watch it with my parents.  Everything was fine until half time.  That's when Grandpa came down with flu.  All and all, 6 people were sick, Jeff included (that was an awesome ride home on Sunday) - Mom and I had dinner together alone in her kitchen while everyone else was sleeping in the living room.  It was the most enjoyable meal I had all weekend.

Lots more to come this week, working on my favorite things blog, take that Oprah!

Have a great week!

~Cyn