Last Couple Christmasy Ramblings...

I need you all to know you are killing me with your daily fantastic Christmas posts. I see garland and trees and ornaments and cookies and children and Santa and stockings...I log on to blogger with intentions to post but get stuck reading all your fantastic posts. Shame on you for being so amazingly creative and cute! Anyways, I am determined tonight...it is almost midnight...I said I was going to bed on time tonight...too late for that...I am eating potato and vegetable soup...so random but I had enough self restraint to reach for that instead of the holiday cookies...and I have a handful of Christmasy things to share...

I needed a little cookie fix and came up with these snowy mountain chocolate chip cookies (I came up with the cookies on a whim and decided to name them...I am open to other ideas...). When I say whim...I mean grab whatever is in the kitchen and make it work! I started off with some refrigerator dough and cooked up some cookies...but decided they needed a little more pizazz...the Sandra Lee in me got working...Of course I did not have parchment or wax paper...so a giant Ziploc bag ought to do the trick. I cut the bag on each side for a perfectly long covering for the cookie pan. I put some chocolate chips in a double broiler...and oh look there I am in my reflection again...that dang stainless steel! I love how my mouth is open in concentration of taking the picture...

Next step was cutting up the Halloween ghostmallows...I bought them the day after Halloween from Target for cheap cheap and decided to put them to use. I cut the poor guys into little balls of snowy marshmallow goodness.

I took the cookies, dipped half in chocolate and covered with little ghost remains...yum yum! They were kind of like smores...pretty delicious. Now to some of you this may sound like more work than you would like...decapitating ghosts and all. But I would much rather spend my time making things decorative than making cookies from scratch...I will have to work on that. ;)

Other news...I have had a Beverly's gift card from my birthday...that I got in August! Yes, this crafty girl has had a gift card burning a hole in her wallet for over four months. But to be honest Beverly is no Joann...or a Michael. Joann's is great for sewing and Michael's is fantastic for basic crafting supplies...and you have to love those coupons! Beverly...well she has a smaller selection of a mix of both and really doesn't have very good deals. Okay, I am a craft store snob... Anyways, the point to this all is that I finally used the gift card on some holiday decor that was 60% off...nice! I was excited to finally get rid of the ol' thing and get me some sweet decorations at a reasonable...and free price. It did take me like an hour to finally spend $25 but I finally festered up all my creative ability to find some cute things (sorry to all Beverly's lovers out there...).

The deer is my favorite...so glittery and amazing...the little robin is a candle holder...and I am in love with this country meets bling snowflake. And a little candy ornament for my sweet tooth. :)

I threw together a quick little project this week...I found this little wooden tree thingy at the Goodwill and thought it could be made into a little shabby rustic charm...the before and after:

I also bought this tree from Ikea a few months ago with utter excitement of hanging ornaments from for Christmas...except I did not have the perfect Crate and Barrel/Pottery Barn ornaments to showcase. So instead...my solution to everything...RIBBON! I think it looks absolutely adorable!

Last but not least...my excitement exploded as I met a friend at Starbuck's...yay for Starbuck's Christmas decorations! It was pretty funny as this was the same friend who was with me last year when I saw the trees at Starbuck's that I ended up making...so once again I made her stand their awkwardly as I tried to get the perfect angle with my camera...oh those coffee drinkers must have thought I was crazy...Anyways, I am absolutely in LOVE yes L-O-V-E with these yarn ball displays. There is no time to get these projects done before Christmas but I will definitely be hitting the craft store (and not Beverly's in case you were wondering) after Christmas to stock up on the supplies to make these perfect little decorations for next year...

Well unless you stop writing amazing blog posts, I probably will not post again before Christmas...but we will see. So if not, I wish you all a merry and blessed Christmas and am so glad I got to prepare for the holidays with all of you this year. The house is definitely way cuter this year thanks to blogging! ;)

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

-Charles Dickens

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.' "

"That is what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown."

-Linus Van Pelt of Charlie Brown