Sewing Nook

A while back I gave you a little peek at my sewing nook. I'm pretty much finished with it now. I was just waiting to amass enough buttons to make a button border on my inspiration board. And my mom helped me out with that. Over Thanksgiving she let me raid her button stash and take all I wanted. Oooh, buttons, so fun! This little space is a work in progress, but it's a start. This area started as the bar (see how it started looking as a bar here), but the shelves were too narrow and too far apart to make it look good with bar accessories, and since we rent here, and I know the landlord isn't too keen on changes, I thought it would work better as a something else, and I've been wanting a craft space. Now that my machine and supplies are out of the closet, I have no excuses! Here's to more sewing in 2011. Happy New Year!!

O Christmas Tree

This year our tree is really just some ornaments on branches in a vase. There really isn't a good spot in our apartment for an entire tree, so I thought a little tree on a table would do. I've had branches in a vase for a while now and thought it would be easy and cute to decorate them instead of a real tree. Unfortunately the vase this was originally in fell over and broke so I decided to used a glass canister from the kitchen instead. So here it is our wee branch tree, including one new ornament--a salt dough elephant ornament that Lois made! And of course it includes a few family pictures too. Merry Christmas!

A Pillow For Lois

Last year I made a bunch of bedtime story pillows for the kids in my family, but I was pillowed-out by the time Christmas came and planned to make one for Lois sometime after Christmas. It took me a whole year to get to it, but I made one for her today. I like the way it turned out, and it looks really cute in her room. I embroidered the text like a bookplate--"this book belongs to"--because I love bookplates, and I thought it would be fun to have her name on her pillow. Now I have to wrap it and put it under the wee tree!

Bight Lights, Big City...Parties and Snow

London is looking quite sparkly at night lately! They really go all out with decorations here. It's really fun to walk around and see all the lights and decorations. Last weekend we went to the Winter Wonderland market in Hyde Park. It was a little too packed to really enjoy it with little bit in the stroller (we could barely get through the aisles), but it looked very pretty and was fun to watch people on all the rides. Here's a bit of what London looks like at night these last few weeks, these first few from the Winter Wonderland. 

And a bit of the sparkle in the city...

In related news, we went to a Christmas party. Hubbers looking classy in the red lights. 

And it snowed! Someone in our neighborhood has snowy clothes.

Lois had fun after she got over the initial fear of what in the world is this stuff?!!  Good times. 

All iPhone pictures here, using either PictureShow or CameraBag.

Sewing Christmas Cards

I'm a little behind in getting my cards done this year, but I finished last night. I thought I'd experiment with sewing on cards, and it worked! It worked well enough anyway. I was trying to only use papers and supplies I already had, but I did ruin a few cards, so I ended up also using some leftover cards from previous years. For these cards I cut little tree shapes out of some vintage papers I've had for a while and sewed a zigzag stitch around the border. Cute! Here are some other fun handmade card ideas I read about recently on Seeds and Stitches.

Woodland Cake

I bought these fun holiday stencils at Michael's, in the Martha Stewart section of course, and I love them! My woodland stencil didn't turn out perfect, but it's still pretty. You gotta go easy on the powdered sugar, but in a very even layer. I think that's the key. They also carry stencils for cupcakes. Happy baking!

Fireside Chat

Oh my, time sure does fly when you're having fun. And I'm home in Atlanta, so time is whizzing by! I'm sorry not to be posting regularly. After dinner, clean up, bath time, reading... I'm tuckered out. But here's a bit of what I've been up to down south, in the ATL. Right now, kicking back fireside at my mom's, sipping hot cocoa.

Last week we had a great Thanksgiving at the hubber's mom's house. The leaves above have all made their way to the ground, but when we first arrived, the leaves were so bright and fiery. 

We re-visited a few of our favorite places. Star Provisions is where lots of gourmet goodies live in Atlanta, and where we got our Thanksgiving turkey. I bought one of their smores cupcakes. It was quite tasty. 

I took a few morning walks with Lois. 

I've spent a lot of time with my family, including these three adorable monkey's (my nephew's, my sister's kids). It's practically impossible to get three boys 5 and under to look at the camera and smile--at the same time. I must have taken at least 50 pictures just in this position, with candycane props. Still, this was the best I could do. I don't know how family photographers do it. 

Speaking of photographers, I got to spend some time with my top favorite photographer, Greg Miller. He's the real deal. 

I've seen a lot of pretty Atlanta days and nights. Even the bad weather is good weather to me just because I'm here.

We've had fun visiting with friends big and small. 

And I've been trying to get lots of sleep, not very successfully though, because I'm too excited to be here! But I should try to sleep now. Nighty-night. Just realized I have all these big pictures of myself in one post! In case you weren't sure what I looked like, well, there you have it. ME.