Post Christmas Busy-ness

Happy Christmas, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the holidays! We had a very nice, quiet Christmas, and had some good friends over for dinner that night. My sister Margaret and her husband Alex came over on Sunday to exchange gifts and spend the night. We had such a nice time with them and the boys love seeing their auntie and uncle.

Marlex (aka Margaret and Alex) gave me this nifty gizmo, a Zaz rolling diecutter by Accucut:

Do any of you have this? I am having a hard time finding the accessories for it. I think it's compatible with several of the smaller dies out there (Sizzlits, Spellbinders, etc.) but the selection at Michael's and Jo-Ann's is pitiful. It's a very cool little toy, and I want to play with it!

Things that are keeping me busy this week - 3 little boys who are on the verge of getting bored with an extra-long winter break! I'm also working on a blog header for a lovely friend of Stef's, some custom mini-clipboards (thanks for the referral, Marcia!), and a sweet elephant-theme party package for a baby girl having her first birthday. I love the colors her mom chose - very soft and feminine:

Next week's project is a fun bright blue and green monkey party package!

Hope everyone is doing great...any plans for New Year's Eve?

XO

My Christmas Gift to You

Merry Christmas, my sweet friends! I hope that you are enjoying a relaxing, wonderful holiday with your families and friends!

My Christmas wish for you is that you have a year filled with peace, joy, and love, and I'm looking forward to us sharing more fun and crafts! I have a very special gift for you, something I found on YouTube today, a warm and wonderful memory from my childhood:

Star Wars Holiday Special, Part 1

Star Wars Holiday Special, "Happy Life Day" Song

Now, there are actually 10 or 11 parts to this thing, and yes, I watched every single one of them, lol! The links above are the "best" parts - amidst all the unbelievable cheese and awful dialogue is the extra-cheesy opening credits (with Harvey Korman! and Bea Arthur!) and the truly dreadful "Ode to Life" song from Princess Leia. I can't believe I was so excited about this when I saw it originally waaaaaay back in 1977!

Although....I do admit it was nice to see the very young Harrison Ford again.

Enjoy. : )

XO

Quick! Snow Much Fun Giveaway!

The little guys and I went out to play in the snow today and we attempted to make a snowman. It didn't hold their interest for long, so being adaptable and flexible as always, I gave it my best shot and came up with this:

First person to guess who/what this is will get a special gift from my Etsy shop! : )

Hint: those who know me well will have no trouble guessing, lol!

Good luck!

XO

This n' That

Hello sweet friends! First, since this is my crafty blog, I wanted to share a couple things I made for some very lovely customers last week. One order was a monkey party package for twin baby girls; here are some of the centerpiece picks I made:
Another order was a Happy Birthday banner in purple shades, with butterflies. I love how this turned out...I think it is the prettiest banner I've done!
I'm working on a pink and grey elephant birthday party package right now, and a green and brown monkey party package, and hope to have some pictures soon. I am loving making these up!

Soooo today we spent the day digging out of the snow. My oldest took this picture of the snow accumulation on our deck:
Yes, that is me shoveling in snow boots and jammies. Hey, I'm not proud.

This is my middle son, thoroughly enjoying the winter wonderland. I love his style - a little emo, a little sk8r, a lot of cuteness (if I do say so myself)!

Last, here is a natural snowflake formation we discovered on our kitchen door this morning. So beautiful! I'm so glad we got to see it before it melted away:
Our county has closed school until after the New Year, so my boys are enjoying an unexpectedly extra-long Christmas break. It's going to be a long and busy two weeks, lol!

Hope everyone is doing well!

XO

Aloha!

It's a winter wonderland here in northern Virginia! It snowed for 23 hours straight but we ventured out for a half hour or so this afternoon.

Greetings from my husband Dave aka Nanook:
And from my oldest:

View from my living room:

And just had to share a picture of these adorable Christmas ornaments I bought for my boys this year:

We anticipate that we won't be going anywhere until Monday at the earliest, and not sure when the kids will be back at school. I'm 99% done with our Christmas shopping, and stocked up on food and crafty things for the boys to do, so I think we'll do ok.

How's everyone doing? Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?

XO

Craft Show Recovery

What a day! I was at a craft show from 8:30 until almost 4:00 yesterday and am still tired!

Here is my table:
And here is me with my sweet friend Angela, who makes wonderful soaps and shared a booth with me:

And here is my biggest seller...the very popular mini clipboard/Post-It holders:
It was a fun day and went by pretty quickly. My fab friends Karen, Francesca, and Patricia stopped by to shop and visit (Patricia even brought along her husband and cutie patootie son) and helped out in our booth a bit too!

Now that that's over, I can concentrate more fully on Christmas...still lots to do! ; ^ )

XO

Sweet Tea & Pickles has Gone Global!

Hello my friends, and brrrrrrr!!! Winter has come to Virginia...last Saturday it snowed all day long - so pretty! My oldest son made a snow-vampire-pirate-y thing:

One day later and it was looking like it had a little too much yo ho ho and a bottle of something!

Last week was a big week for Sweet Tea and Pickles as our little operation here went global! I did my first international order, a large rush order going to France. I made up a party package for a retirement party:

Very fun and a great learning experience in international shipping!

Today I am off to my first and only craft show of the year - I've spent the week making cocoa, mini clipboards, cards, and all kinds of other little things. I'll check in tomorrow with pictures - wish me luck! : )

XO