Bunch of Flakes

There are 3 more package delivering days left before Christmas and MANY of my important gifts are still en route to me. They were due here last week and they're coming from many different places. Is everyone flaking out around here? Must be the snowstorms hitting the area. I don't know. I even received an email tonight from a restaurant in Seattle where I purchased 2 gifts cards a week ago. They wanted to say that they just now noticed I bought something online and that they'd ship it via Fed Ex on Tuesday or Wednesday. I wrote back...."How about shipping them tomorrow?" They wrote back..."there's more than 1?" Oh geez. I got it straightened out, I think. I just know that I'd better see the UPS and FedEx guys tomorrow or I may lose it.

In the meantime, since I'm declaring everyone from these stores to be big fat FLAKES...I thought I'd repost my snowflake tutorial from last year. Could be good therapy to make these with the kids tomorrow while we wait patiently for the big trucks to come rolling down into our driveway.

Snowed In

I meant to do all of my last minute shopping and baking errands on this past Tuesday, but one of my kids left the dome light on in the van. Battery -- dead. Darn. Since then, we've been snowed in and my errands are still not getting done. I hate that. I love the snow, and we've been having all sorts of fun, but I hate not being ready for Christmas. 

Oh well. I was able to get my pillows done. Yay! They turned out super cute. I guess being forced to stay inside is not a bad thing afterall. You eventually run out of laundry to do and you are free to finish up on crafty things. That's pretty nice. 

Free Download - Snowglobe Gift Tags

Hey there. Load your printer up with some card stock and print out these gift tags for all of your presents! Or give them to your kids and let them have their own little theme for their gifts this year.

Updating a Christmas Tradition

We have many Christmas traditions in my family, and like everyone, you don't always know it's a tradition until the kids start asking you why you haven't done a certain activity yet, or baked a certain cookie yet. "Oh, I guess it's next on my to-do list." Ta-da! It's a tradition. 

One of those for us, is to trace our feet and hands and make construction paper reindeer each year. It's silly and quick, but also very fun. Especially when you have a baby in the family. To see a teeny little reindeer next to big brother or big sister's reindeer is so sweet. 

I pulled out last year's reindeer and decided to laminate them (my best purchase this year was a good quality, double roller laminator), to help them last longer and not get crumpled. However, it seemed to me that I could make them more "3-D." And so...I got some felt and built some pillows out of them. I think they turned out really cute. So far, I just have the tops made, but I wanted to post them to share. 

I love them! I do have the urge to embellish them like crazy, though. Maybe next year I'll choose some bold colors and go crazy. My daughter is an accessory addict and she has crazy wild hair. I think I could really "fancy up" her pillow. My oldest son wears glasses. Those would be easy to stitch on too. And of course, some sequins can't hurt. 

For this batch, though, I'm keeping them simple. ***See the finished product HERE!

Christmas Tree Napkin Pattern Download

Quick post for those who want the tree pattern. I suppose blogging isn't a total vacuum of my free time...I've actually learned a few things. One is, I made my first ever "pattern" for that Christmas tree napkin that everyone liked so much. It is limited by your printer. I suggest that you make your printer allow a very small border only, in order to get as much printed as you can. It comes on two pages, and then you tape it together. Use common sense. It's basically a half circle. You'll have to practice folding too...I suggest you practice on the paper, like I did in the above photo. It eventually works and then you'll know what to do every time.

Next, I learned how to upload a PDF to a public website so that you folks can enjoy it. I used Scribd because many people commented about that site, and it was very easy to use. I will keep this pattern posted for a limited time, so click here and here to download both pages and get sewing. You can make 6 completed napkins from 2 coordinating yards of fabric.

Good luck and thanks for all of the nice comments about these. I'll be drawing a winner on Wednesday!

Christmas Giveaway!!!

My mom recently figured out how to make some simple and oh so cute items for Christmas and she's been sewing them up by the bajillions. I told her that she should blog about them! Nope, not enough time or interest to blog about anything. So...I too have begun to make these cuties, and I'm giving away a set of 6 to one lucky winner. What is it???

Oh. Gee. wow. A fabric half circle.  Ha! NOOOOOO.......
It's a reversible fabric napkin that folds into the shape of a tree! Yay! Super duper cute and easy to make. I'm giving away a set of 6 of these. I hope you enjoy them. I had wanted to post the directions for these, but I do not know how to link to a PDF file. I know how to make the PDF, but how do I post one? Surely there must be a PDF hosting service, like Flickr is to JPEGs. If anyone out there knows how...please explain to me and I'll double your entry. 

Meanwhile...to enter, check out my new link on the left that lets you follow my blog. Sign up to follow along, and leave me a comment with your email to let me know how to reach you, and I'll enter you in the drawing. OR...leave me a comment anywhere on the blog and you could enter that way too. On December 10th, I'll draw a winner and ship these cuties off to you in time for Christmas. 

Thanks for stopping by!