'Tis the season

I love the holidays. I love the lights, the smells, the getting together with family and I love the decorating. This year, being that money is a little scarce I've decided to create as many of my decorations as possible.

Crazy? maybe. 

So last night was my first attempt at wreath building. It is not easy. My hands look like I lost a fight with a cat, but I did really enjoy myself and I now have $1.50 into a wreath hanging on my front door.

I just took an old wire hanger, bent it into a circle with plyers, cut off the hook and took a walk outside with my scissors. I bought some florist wire and went to town. I found some ribbon and a few other things in my basement and tada! 

I feel pretty good about the outcome, I'd like to add a few more items to it, but I do know next time... I'm going to wear gloves.

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Ah, the disapearing sink trick

I've been trying to think of ideas to spice up my little master bathroom that's the size of a small closet, and I came across this photo.
I just never though of putting a sink in a drawer. Isn't that an interesting idea? I have a small pedestal sink in my bathroom, and it does a pretty good job of opening up the space, but a drawer would have really given more room.
The only downside is, wouldn't the faucet seem a little strange hanging out all by itself? Knowing my clumsy self I would be running into that at night. Just a thought though.

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Something Different

Thanks to my mom, my home design guru, she sent me this fun little inspiration picture. It's something a little different to spice up the candle holder. I'm going to give this one a try later and see how it goes. Thanks mom!

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A stomach ache just waiting to happen

Here it is. The goods.
This is a whole Saturday worth of labor with my mother-in-law, slaving over mounds of almond bark.
What started as a holiday tradition years ago with the women in my mother-in-law's family, turned into a huge production. My mother-in-law was blessed to be one in a family of 9 children, making anything her side of the family does into a huge production. So, when the sisters of the family had children, and the daughters and daughter-in-laws came into the mix, wow, you're talking about a kitchen full of women.
This year, to scale the event back a little, the sisters decided to break up the growing group and each family work on a selection of goodies. Then, meet and distribute.
That sounded good to me, baking days could work out to be 12 hours or more.
But to be honest, it was nice to spend time with the women in the family. It was a great way to catch up and find out embarrassing stories of your significant others. I think I'm going to miss spending time with them, other than at a wedding or other family function when the guys were with us.
But it was still a great time with my mother-in-law, and as soon as I can feel my stirring arm I'll be good to bake some more!

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