Happy Easter!

Big thanks to my mom for sending this super-cute Easter gift our way.

Actual conversation with my husband:

Me: Oh, look at the cute little bunny for the baby!
Shane: You'll have to feed it to him.
Me: I'm not sure how long we'll have to keep it before he's allowed to eat chocolate...
Shane: No, by eating it yourself!

I love how that man's brain works.
May all of you be blessed with chocolate this weekend!
(or next week when it goes on clearance!)

Happy Holidays!

Announcing our most ambitious DIY project yet:

A Baby!! We plan to welcome the wee one in mid-June 2015.
A few FAQs:

• I'm feeling great! We are both so super excited, we often find ourselves smiling for no reason.
• No, we don't know the gender yet
• Yes, we probably will find out with the ultrasound. But we don't actually care.
• Yes, we do have names picked out! They are awesome.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!!

Embroidered Christmas Gifts

I promised you a post about the things I made for my family this Christmas, and here it is!

A bit of background: My mom made beautiful cross-stitched Christmas stockings for all of us kids when we were babies. A while back, she made two for her parents too. Starting last year, I got to hang mine along with an almost identical one she made for my husband! The thing is, Mom and Dad have never had their own stockings. I decided it was high time that changed.

Starting last spring, I worked on the stockings off and on all year. I learned  a lot along the way, and there are a few things I'd do differently if I were to do them over again now. For one thing, hand-sewing them together made me seriously consider buying a sewing machine! Anyway, without further ado, here are the finished products:

Patterns: Urban Threads and Craftsy

I wasn't in Minnesota to see my parents open their gifts, but I think they liked them!

(Those are their "Oh my gosh!" faces. Yes, Dad too. He's Norwegian-American.)

I made lots of tree ornaments for everyone else. Much more manageable! Also, it turns out I really enjoy sewing on felt.

Patterns: Wild Olive
My apologies for the poor picture quality.
Maybe after that sewing machine, I should get a new camera!

Just like in my most recent post, I saved the best for last. This time, my joy comes courtesy of my niece, Kaitlyn. She's super crafty and known for her interest in art. So I made her a DIY ornament kit. She totally nailed it!

This picture was, hands-down, the best gift I got this Christmas. Thanks, Kaitlyn!

Christmas (Or: When I Didn't Hate Winter)

Since Pittsburgh is due for a big snow storm this weekend, I thought it was a good time to reflect on my Christmas. It was a happy time when winter was new and snow felt appropriate. Let's go back two months together. (cue time machine noises)

There it is! Your first sneak-peak at our moved-into apartment. So festive!! We had plenty of room for our giant tree in the living room this year. Of course, we've since bought a big, beautiful sofa. So next year's decorating might require a bit more creativity.

One of my proudest finds this year was the stocking hooks. They're engraved with holly berries, and coated in brass, and they don't hurt our new hutch! Also, check out our vacation souvenir from Jamestowne on the tree. I hung it in a prominent place. Maybe we can make a tradition of finding a new ornament every year from someplace nifty. (Credit: Ornaments as souvenirs is an idea I got from my mom.)

I made Shane sit on the floor to open presents. This was a moment of whimsy on my part. It made me feel more Christmas-y some how. He gave me a coffee grinder (which is really for both of us). No more suffering through pre-ground beans!

I got him a watch a whole year ago on Kickstarter. Which means, of course, it still hasn't been shipped to us. Sigh... So to tide him over, I got him two books (which are really for both of us) and a journal. The man loves him some words; 'tell you what.

We opened a few other gifts from family. Then we called said family on the phone while we walked to the nearby Indian restaurant. When we got home, we played Upwords. It was a perfect way for our little family of two to celebrate.

I had the following week off. So I took advantage of the extra time to make a big traditional holiday meal. Shane gets all of the credit for the turkey. We also had Norwegian lefse (potato bread) courtesy of my parents!

I have saved the best part of our story for last. I decided not to take the time to make the topper I had planed for our tree this year. It was pretty without it, even if it did have something missing. Lucky for me, Shane's brother Avery came to the rescue! The wrapping might give you a clue if you're nerdy like me.

That's his gift to us from last year in the background of the second picture. So what's inside? Only the scariest tree topper ever! DON'T BLINK!

(Explanation: It's a weeping angel, which is an evil alien from the Doctor Who TV show.)

Thank you, Avery, for making our Christmas complete!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2012

The penultimate day of January is the perfect time for a Christmas post, right? It took me forever to get to tweaking my pictures. But better late than never!

This was my first year with my very own full-sized tree! We bought it last year on New Year's Day, and left it in the box. Putting up the tree was extra fun because I had forgotten how nice it would be! I was also happily surprised to find that I own enough ornaments to cover it. (We made room for a few whimsical additions too. Like a fish. Kate made that. Rad, huh?) Kate also crocheted a gorgeous ivory garland for it, but I don't seem to have any good close-ups to show you. No topper this year, but I plan to make one for next year.

Kate's cats loved sitting under the tree. Mercifully, they did not climb it or break the ornaments. (Though we did worry for the ribbons on the gifts a few times.) I found the tree skirt at Goodwill last fall for $3! I love the random vintage-y mushrooms. We had a really happy number of presents too. Check out the homemade wrappings on the middle-right. Kira drew all of hers, and Beth made hers from an old Van Gogh poster.

Here's a close-up of one of Kira's drawings. I got a bit creative myself, and made a Firefly card for the ear-buds Shane got for Kate. I don't know who had more fun with it: me making it, or Kate receiving it.

Here are some other decorations. The poster is one my husband found online. I admit, at first it confused me. But it really grew on me after a while. The shutter is where we kept our cards. I put the ribbon on last year. It used to hang on the wall next to the stockings, but we put up the clock for our Halloween party and liked it too much to take it down. The stockings hold paper gnome friends that Kira made for us. The elaborate cross-stitched ones were done by my Mom. She did mine when I was a baby, and Shane's last year to match. I'm proud to say I did some rudimentary embroidery for the girls' stockings myself this year. The windowsills will probably look very different next year since Shane's mom brought over his childhood box of decorations. It is HUGE!

We opened gifts as a house the week before real Christmas because the girls all had family to visit. I can't imagine a more perfect way for us to celebrate. Everyone was cheerful, all the gifts were awesome and thoughtful, and afterward we went out to dinner at Gullifty's.

Speaking of food: Christmas isn't Christmas for me without chocolate covered cherries. Kate was the last to leave for family times. The night before she did, she and I had white wine and filo-baked brie with strawberry jam for dinner! (Shane doesn't like either, so he had to fend for himself. More cheese for us!) After the husband and I had the house to ourselves, we went on a cookie making spree.

Aside from cookie making, we spent most of our Christmas relaxing and bonding with the cats. The cats didn't give us much choice. In the middle picture, they are enjoying their Christmas present: catnip. I put a video of Isabella's indulgence on YouTube. (We must have been pretty lonely.)

Pittsburgh kept its decorations up long enough for me to catch pictures of them with a good dusting of snow. Now, even these are gone and it's just winter. Sigh... oh well. It's time to look to 2013.

Happy New Year!

Good Riddance to 2012!

Merry Christmas!

May you find peace an joy this winter

No matter how/if you celebrate