Dec 26, 2010

What Dogs Are Thinking On Christmas Morning...



Gee mom, this is always hilarious...every time you do it!




Will you all keep it down...I'm trying to sleep!





Girl, please put down the camera and give me some of that sticky bun I smell
in the kitchen!





Uh, don't mind me...I wouldn't want to interrupt your blatant consumerism!
Besides...what did Santa bring me?




Will you please keep it down...I'm sleeping here!
But wake me when the sticking buns are done!


Hope your Christmas was merry & blessed!



Dec 23, 2010

A Christmas Cat's Tale...



How precious is this sight I happened upon!
I step away from my computer for a few minutes and return to find
my sassy girl busily shopping away! She had such a sly look that I
know she must have been looking for a Christmas treat for mom!



But come to think of it...I think I heard her humming "Santa Baby"!
Maybe I better check my credit card activity!

{Must fly...haven't started wrapping yet...Double ACK!}

Dec 20, 2010

Getting A Handle On Christmas...




It's raining...it's pouring...well, you know know how it goes.
Somewhere in that song there needed to be a line about
cats hiding though...because that's what mine are doing
right now. So darn pathetic! And I try to be sympathetic...
but it's just too funny!




The poor things just don't have much experience with rain, especially
rain like this...torrential...since Friday...I am LOVING it...but then again
no trees have fallen on my roof and walls of muddy debris have not
swept my patio furniture down the street!





Yet...
knock wood...
fingers crossed...




So, all this rain brings out the naughty cheater in me!
Ok, so that's the everyday me...but the today me has
really bad rain hair...it's big...wow...needing its own
zip code kinda big! { ELYSE knows my pain! ;}




So, me and my big hair and my fraidy cats are cheating for this week's
Teacup Tuesday by just showing the teacup handles and a few of my
Christmasy snowflake pins...I am ALL about the snowflake at Christmas...
it's obviously an unrequited love!




I hope Terri & Martha don't mind. They are such sweet ladies with manageable
hair...they will surely take pity on me.
Possibly recommending a fabulously smoothing conditioner...or a very large
hat!




{And this is just for my sister...yes, he is VERY handsome and you are just
jealous!}


HAPPY CHRISTMAS TEACUP TUESDAY!
Be sure to pop over to TERRI &
MARTHA'S !



Dec 19, 2010

MIRA, THE BEAUTIFUL WHITE {BELLE BLANC} CHRISTMAS ANGEL!



Today I received the most BEAUTIFUL Christmas present ever from
Miss Snow Angel herself, MIRA of BELLE BLANC !
It was the gift of a BLOG POST ...now that is something I have never gotten
before! You may remember that I was whining...ya ya, so I do that a lot...
but I was whining about not ever having a White Christmas...
so Mira sent me quite a gorgeous "virtual" gift! And I am still swooning
and completely a-flutter!
Mira does have a magical touch when it comes to photography...but who
could help but be inspired by such amazingly gorgeous surroundings!
Seriously! I'd show you all a picture of my immediate surroundings...but
no amount of photoshopping will make the front door of a Domino's Pizza
look dreamy...belle...or even blanc! ACK!




Mira & Bianca's { WHITE LIVING } book,
Belle Blanc For The Love Of White, comes out in February!!!
It's available for pre-order HERE
on Amazon's German site...
they aren't sure if it will be available on Amazon's main site...what?!
This is just so vexing I think I may have to eat a cookie{s}! ARRGH!
Well, I'll get my paws on it one way or another...hopefully within the
parameters of the law...but I'm not promising anything!! ;}

THANK YOU MIRA, from the bottom of my whiny, glittery, Cali heart!
You are such a Belle Blanc Ange!



A Yultide Tute...

That's short for "tutorial", just in case you're not "in the know"...
and that was a complete lie! ;}
Why do I do that?
It's just awful! And here it is almost Christmas! I should be ashamed!
{I promise, I shall be heartily sorry tomorrow....just let me finish this
post first,ok?}
So, as I was saying before I almost broke out into the entire Act of
Contrition...
I present to you today, for your perusal, A BOW TUTORIAL that I
totally ripped off from Kathy @ A SPECTACULAR MESS !
{And it's also chapter 747 of my Lazy Girl's Guide To Crafting From Your Couch! ;}
Geezaloooooo! There I go again! Can I work my way through the "7 Deadlies"
in one single post?!
Again...so, un-Christmasy...I am heartily sorry!




{the bird, the shell & the cat hair are merely there to add "visual interest"
to the shot. OK, the bird and the shell are...the cat hair is just everywhere,
all the time, 24/7...I'm not gonna lie...again...there's not a tape roller big
enough to tame it all, so I just dress accordingly! ;}






OK, let's get down to brass tacks here...
have your cat cut 7 strips of paper, 7" long and 3/4" wide...ish...
Now Kathy is a librarian, she probably did this all very meticulously
and, it goes without saying, quietly!
Then there's me...I started to cut strips of paper that only had something of
interest on ONE side...don't so this! BOTH sides of the paper will be visible
ergo...use the sense the God gave a goose and use sheet music or book pages!
I don't have a ruler...I had to use a tape measure and almost put an eye out!
But what I lacked in exact measurement, I tried to make-up for by using
my sassily edged scissors...see!...you were so taken with the curvy edges
that you didn't even noticed that my strips are 7 x 3/4...give or take... ;}




Now turn your strips into sorta-kinda-figure 8's...
easy as that! Tickety-boo!
Yes...That's another lie...tongue sticking out...trying to get the over-under...
under-over...Saints preserve us! What am I doing??! If I had filmed myself
REPEATEDLY trying to get the hang of this...they'd have me under a 72 hour
hold! But once you "get it" and then proceed to smack yourself in the head
a few times...truly...it's cinchy! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!




So, now that you've got that under control...
make 7! ;}
What? It's easy!


{Ooops, forgot. Kathy logically uses two-sided tape for all her adhering needs.
Welllllllllllll, I was plumb out of that particular product...so I used my glue
gun! Is that Can-Do-American-Spirit or what? No ruler, no tape and yet I
press on...undaunted...my pioneer ancestors are so proud! ;}





Now, stack 'em up!
You've all seen a bow...hop to it!





And there you have it!
Is that adorable, or what!
And I am adoring it...let me tell you!
Yah, yah...Kathy's is all neat and tidy and symmetrical and all
that other entirely superfluous stuff...but she had a ruler and
tape...AND she's a librarian with all that Dewey Decimalness
just oozing from every pore!
Don't judge!



{no muss, no fuss...a 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4...
for anyone who is more visual and doesn't need all verbiage...
how boring! ;}





{sidebar}
HOW cute would my sister's BOW-dacious apothecary look be with the
sheet music bows...possibly with glittered edges?
I am just dying here!





I say lose that lackluster white "been there done that" bow!!! And crown your
gifts with one of these little charmers instead!


{Kathy's is a tad more detailed and a bit more coherent...
for your own sanity...you might want to check it out?! Plus, her tutorial
has a Star Wars theme that I really enjoyed! ;}





{EDITED TO ADD: Yes, Yes, I know that Christmas is now over but I
have had so many request for these bows that I have a feeling they
will be with me all year long! And I have so many ideas for variations
and some ideas that will require MANY multiples...that I need to start
now if I ever hope to have them done in time for next Christmas! Besides
...it's not the Twelfth Night yet...so, it's STILL Chrismastide! So I am
digging in an I ain't letting it go until Jan 6th!!!! ;}


Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special







CHRIS CARTER
sure missed out when he didn't take this fabulous
monster/bow-maker-helper! Lucky me!!

Dec 18, 2010

Just Ozma-ing With Creativity!


Whereas I, in a flight of fancy aka: a sugar high{...btw, if you haven't had
the apricot filled short bread cookies from CORNER BAKERY ...
I suggest that you don't...ever! Because once you do...it's all over!
You'll be ever so cheerfully willing to give up an kidney, your car or
your first born just to lay your grubby little mitts on more! }
made this silly DECOUPAGED TEACUP ...and then was a
a loss to know what to do with it!




Miss I-Make-All-Things-Magical, Rosemary @ OZMA OF ODDS came up with this creative Christmastime cuteness!
I knew she'd have something up here fairy-dust-filled-sleeve!

And here's wishing all of you a "cup of good cheer" to get you through this week
before Christmas!

Get Wrapping!!!!! ;}



Dec 14, 2010

A Yultide Tantrum...

I am five years old!
And I want to pitch a nasty fit!






I am in the midst of a pernicious snit!
{ok, "midst" & "pernicious" are not very five-year-oldish
words...but trust me, I have always been quite wordy! ;}





Now where was I...oh, yes...I was throwing myself down in the middle
of a department store and screaming while someone is trying in vain
to pull me up by one arm so now I will go limp and just hang there
as I cry louder!
{Familiar scene? Hee! Hee! I love when kids do this...not kids that I
am with...but I do enjoy it from a distance...how do all children
innately know this maneuver?}





Why this hissy fit?




I know. I know.
I say this every year...every winter...every Christmas.




I WAAAAAAAAAANT SNOW!




There are no snowmen...without snow.
No sleigh bells without a sleigh and no sleigh...without snow.





It was HOT Monday...people had on shorts...
{trust me, just because we can wear shorts...doesn't mean
we should wear shorts...we are not in Australia and it's
not Summer...which means "less than toned"..."less than
tan"...cover it up people! You'll scare Santa away!!! '}




It doesn't help that the tv and newspapers are brimming with
stories and pictures of a....




Yes!






I know those of you back East are
slipping and sliding and digging out from under...
and it's not all fun and magical..





...and yet I pout.


I guess I'll go see if some Almond Roca will help...
{I always find food to be fun and magical! ;}