Day 12

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Twelve homemade cards,
Eleven red flock reindeer,
Ten macarons,
Nine vintage pins,
Eight sparkly cookies,
Seven recipes (that I'm dying to try),
Six pairs of earrings,
Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Eleven red flock reindeer,
Ten macarons,
Nine vintage pins,
Eight sparkly cookies,
Seven recipes (that I'm dying to try),
Six pairs of earrings,
Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 10

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Ten macarons,
Nine vintage pins,
Eight sparkly cookies,
Seven recipes (that I'm dying to try),
Six pairs of earrings,
Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 9

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...




















Nine vintage pins,
Eight sparkly cookies,
Seven recipes (that I'm dying to try),
Six pairs of earrings,
Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 8

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Eight sparkly cookies,
Seven recipes (that I'm dying to try),
Six pairs of earrings,
Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 7

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Christmas Coconut Cake
Milk Punch
Cran-Pistachio Cookies
Stuffed Mushrooms
Chocolate-Pistachio Biscotti
Jello Shots (think Christmas shapes instead of Halloween!)

Seven recipes (that I'm dying to try),
Six pairs of earrings,
Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 6

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Six pairs of earrings,
Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Five candlesticks,
Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Four singing angels,
Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 3

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Three gift wrap kits,
Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 2

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















Two sixteenth notes,
And a treble clef in a fake tree.

Day 1

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...















A treble clef in a fake tree.

Thanksgiving Party Favors

So apparently the month of November went by in a blink of an eye.

I went to a turkey farm.















Saw some turkeys get slaughtered.















Had lunch with the cutest donkeys ever.















Then bought a Butterball turkey for my family to eat. Which was way cheaper even though God knows how they are processed.















And I made these cute little party favors full of Trail Mix from Trader Joe's. The sentiment (from Kitchen Sink Stamps) reads "so much to be thankful for." Definitely true this holiday season.















I was hoping to make a dent in my button collection by using some for this project, but I don't think that any project could ever reduce the overwhelmingly vast sea of buttons in my craft room. And now it's on to Christmas cards...

For People Who Don't Like Orange

Halloween decorations! In nontraditional colors. I needed something fun to stick in this gorgeous pot of mums that I bought yesterday.















The folded paper is from K&Co and the stamped images are Crafty Secrets. I finished my decorations off with some Martha Stewart glitter. Only two weeks left until my favorite holiday!

Stormville Flea Market Trip

Best idea ever. The last few times I went to the Stormville Flea Market with my mom, we had absolutely no luck. Last year we decided not to go because we didn't think it would be worth the trip. I am so glad that we decided to go this morning. My mom got two lily of the valley cups to go with her collection. And I bought way too much. As in - I don't deserve any birthday presents - too much. Maybe I felt like I had to get all the flea marketing out of my system before the winter. And there was so much to choose from! To start with, how cute are these anthropomorphic salt and pepper shakers? For $5! And Jasper Giraffe for $1. And please ignore my dusty windows. Gross.















I had to take a picture of the owl lantern for James. Apparently it is about 100 years old. Which means I could not afford it. But way cool anyways!






























Beautiful vintage ribbon and sewing accessories.






























Colorful vintage glasses that I sadly have no room for in my cabinets.















See that wire crate? All mine for $28. More than I wanted to spend, but I fell in love. And a $5 frame. James hates them both. Big surprise.















I also got a vintage glass iced tea pitcher with 6 glasses. It has a strawberry print on it and I can't wait to use it for Mother's Day brunch and Father's Day lunch next year. See how practical I am? The price was not so practical ($45), but it matches the 6 glasses I already have at home perfectly! I couldn't pass up the chance to have a full set, could I?

Remind me not to go antiquing for a long time.

Bluebird Salt and Pepper Shakers

October is my favorite month. Mainly because it's my birthday month. And I guess because James and I got engaged 5 years ago at Blue Jay Orchards on October 14th. So I guess I have a thing for birds that are blue and the fall.

Snowy Owl Cupcakes

So I took a cupcake decorating class last night. I thought I would learn all sorts of cool things about how to make icing flowers and shells and how to use pastry bags. Not so much. I am much more impressed by these Snowy Owl cupcakes that I made for Halloween a couple years ago. The features are made with mini Oreo cookies and M&Ms. And to read more about just how awesome the Snowy Owl is, click here to read the customer review. Can you say James has too much time on his hands?

Cupcake Birthday Cards

Happy Belated World Card Making Day! I think this was the first year I actually made a card to celebrate. And it was only because I had to make one for my friend's birthday anyways. I ended up making a stash of cards using - drum roll please - all scraps!!















The cupcake image is from the set "Merry Muffins" by Stampendous and I used the Wizard Nestabilities Label 1 Die Cuts. The sentiment reads, "Hope your BDay is delish." Most of the paper is from K & Co. I couldn't decide how to fill in the cupcake frosting so I went crazy and experimented with Fun Flock, Liquid Applique, and glitter. I just love them all!

Crocheted Turtles

Rain, rain, go away, the little turtles want to play! Or something like that. I think they're really just waiting for James to get home from his business trip to Canada tonight. I crocheted the mommy turtle and her babies as a surprise to keep him company on his trip, but of course he forgot to take them. So now they're waiting patiently for him to come home. And to see if he brought back a souvenir! Some salt and pepper shakers would be nice!















The pattern for the turtle family is from the book "Amigurumi Two!" by Ana Paula Rimoli. It is full of the most adorable toys - perfect projects for a rainy day. Hopefully our little turtles will get to see the sun tomorrow!

Coconut Cake

Happy Birthday Daddy! I was nominated to make the cake for my dad's birthday this year because I'm always looking for an excuse to bake something. And I honestly don't think I've ever baked a cake. I'm not a cake person - or at least I never was. Enter Jamie's Coconut Cake.




















The cake was so moist and delicious. I think that using coconut milk instead of regular milk really made the difference. And it was pretty easy to make. Although I could definitely use some work on my cake decorating skills...

Vermont

I just came back from visiting my two best friends from high school in Vermont. It was my first night away from James in three years of marriage, so it was kind of a big deal to have a girl's weekend. We had an amazing time stuffing our faces with cheese samples, homemade pasta, and wine. Not to mention apple picking, hiking, running, the farmer's market, King Arthur's Flour, and great conversations. And of course, I forced them to do a little antiquing too!

Hostess Gift

Here's a cute idea for a hostess gift - recipe cards with a bottle of orange liqueur. It's definitely more creative than the traditional bottle of wine! I used K & Co paper for the cards and a blender stamp from the Stampin' Up Mix & Mingle set.

Fall Scrapbooking

Fall 2007. Okay so I'm way behind on my scrapbooking. And we did go apple picking yesterday, but these are pictures from 3 years ago that I just scrapbooked last week. I've got a lot of catching up to do...

Maine

We went to Maine last weekend with my family. And I thought Connecticut antiques were expensive. Not to mention that every antique store we walked into was dirty with no air conditioning. My mom and I had almost given up hope when we stumbled by this gem near Old Orchard Beach:













































It had the most beautiful shabby chic decor with incredibly reasonable prices. I totally wanted this blue chair for $28. But then I heard James' voice in my head telling me that if I ever bought a shabby chic item into our home he would throw it out. (Little does he know that we have several shabby chic items displayed throughout our condo.) So anyways, I stayed strong and resisted the temptation for once in my life.

Farmer's Market

Just went to the Farmer's Market in Shelton! It was the perfect way to start this beautiful fall day. I couldn't resist the snapdragons - they're my favorite flowers. I got some fresh basil and eggplant too, thinking that maybe James will make my favorite Eggplant Rollatini for me? It's the only thing he knows how to make, but it's amazing! The dried hydrangea's are from my mom's amazing garden.















We're off to the apple orchard to start the season off right! And maybe a little fall wardrobe shopping as well...

The Puppies in the Football!

These are James' favorite salt and pepper shakers. He bought them for me because I made my adorable face when I found them online...that face can work wonders!















They are marked with the number 3004 on the bottom.

California Dreamin'

Here are some pictures from our trip to San Diego this summer. The Antique District in Ocean Beach was so amazing that I had to document it in film - even though James thought I was crazy! I was a little bummed that Vignettes, one of Rachel Ashwell's favorite "shabby chic" resources, was closed at the time of our visit. But I still took plenty of "shabby chic" pictures elsewhere to bring home to show my mom. There was plenty of vintage kitchen eye candy (salt and pepper shakers galore) to suit my tastes as well!