Monarch Post

Here's to a brand new year!

 

The last of the ornaments (my favorite handmades here) got packed up and put away over the weekend. Christmas has almost vanished here, except for my poor wilting poinsettias. I always feel sorry for the ones that have to come and live at my house. Their days are always very numbered-- can't keep the things alive for longer than three weeks no matter how hard I try. 

Sophey made our New Year's Eve cake. We came up with the idea a few years ago, I think it's our new tradition. We all blow the candles out at midnight and make a wish for the coming year. It's kinda nice.

We usually order Chinese and stay in on New Year's Eve. This was the messsage in my fortune cookie. It seemed so appropriate for the past year. 2009 was one of the hardest years I've had. Losing my Mom has been tough on so many different levels. I haven't talked much about it all-- who wants to come to a blog for inspiration and find sadness... But I'm grateful for all the wonderful goodness in my life, and I've tried to stay focused on all that goodness. Working to stay focused on the love, and beauty in this family and home has pulled me through. Focusing on creativity has helped me heal and find joy more than I could have ever imagined. Since I was a little girl, I've always created. I've spent years creating professionally too. It's something that's in me-- a need needing to always find expression. It makes me so happy to be in the middle of the creative process. So many people think the pursuit of art and craft is just fluff. It's not. But I know now that I really didn't understand the awesome power of creativity until this last year... It is tranformational power, power that can take a painful heart and make something completely new start to grow again inside.

So all that being said-- here's to 2010! I have to say, I breathed a sigh of relief when the clock struck midnight and 2009 was officially over. Thanks for all the lessons... but I hope I don't need to repeat those lessons again this year. (I'd like an order of nice soft lessons for a year, thank you very much.)

I've got lots of plans in the work for 2010. My time is more my own now. And my mind is running along with ideas-- how to make this old blog better, how can I serve more through creativity, how can I share more this passion to create. Lots to think about... I'm working on it.

And thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and offer sweet, kind words of encouragement. It means the world to me. I am constantly amazed at what's happening in our little corner of blogland. I believe this is what true community is really all about. People sharing and supporting so freely-- without any thought of what's in it for me. We can learn and share and be inspired to keep journeying along on our creative paths-- without competition. And that is a pretty amazing thing to me, my friends! THANKS!!! xoxoKelly

  

 

holiday

    It's always so pretty first thing Christmas morning... before the un-wrapathon begins... 

The boys are wearing their U. of Utah pj pants I made.

Behind Sophey is the bookshelf Mike made for her. We waited see what color she wants it painted. We'll be painting it white soon... And to the right is the baseball coatrack Mike made for Jesse.

Poor Miss Greta doesn't like Christmas much. She shivers and shakes all morning.

The ham in the fam... Ainsley sporting her totally unique Christmas morning style. New cap, with new jammies, the apron I made, the coffee mill Mike made for her, and the coffee cup Sophey gave her. I don't know what she's set for-- coffee in bed followed by baking? But she's adorable, whatever the agenda.

And Sophey with her apron I made too.

Mike also made Corbyn a gorgeous inlaid wood box and a beautiful side table for me. It was a lovely day, filled with lots of laughter and joy. And best of all, this crew of ours. Not many dull moments around here, let me tell you! 

We're still lingering in Christmas here... playing with new toys, parents and kids alike, and I've been terribly lazy the last few days. Doing my best to not even get to the grocery store! It's nice to be home and cozy. I'm snug as a bug in a rug... and quite happy about that!

See you after the New Year!! Lots of love to you. xoxoKelly  

wrapping it up

 
The neighbor gifts were delivered tonight.This year I found a site loaded with creative food gifts--Organized Christmas. As soon as I read the name, "Cranberry Hootycreeks" I knew they had to be the neighbor gifts this year. How can you not love a cookie mix named Cranberry Hootycreeks?  And all my favorite ingredients too: pecans, white chocolate chips, and cranberries. Yum.  I went all out with a country kitschy look to match the name;) But I admit, I do love the giant clothespin recipe holder. Organized Christmas also has matching recipe cards to print. I'm glad they're organized, makes me feel kinda that way too.

I've wondered if neighbor gifts are a local thing. Do you do anything like this? It's fun to get such a variety of goodies just before Christmas. So far we've received fudge, popcorn balls, chocolates, peppermints, a bottle of rootbeer, and a roll of paper towels filled with candy in the tube. That was a creative one.

It's snowing again tonight. Perfect powder snow. The stuff Utah is famous for; covering up the old crunchy snow from last week. Just perfect for a little white flannel blanket look; wrapping the houses up all snuggly, right before Christmas...

We could have used that extra snow last week for the Brownie scout Christmas sledding party.

The Brownie party crasher would have appreciated it too. I'll bet I know what he'll be doing more of tomorrow with our new fresh powdery snow...   

It's almost the big 25! Hang in there guys!  xoxoKelly
  
 

 

 

 

merry

 
It's looking very Christmasee here now... I'm loving my four "new" thrifted vintage Christmas glasses filled with votive candles on the kitchen windowsill.

 
And the snowflakes hanging from the kitchen lights...

Favorite decorations.

   Indeed! 

   White poinsettias (our favorites) and greenery everywhere.

 
   The old Santa collections. 

  

  Santas need dogs too:) 

New ornaments just brought home from school...

And old treasures.   

  The guards are guarding?

   Why the stockings, of course;)

 

 
Dreaming of sugarplums, for sure. xoxoKelly 

   

wish lists

   Whoa. Crazy busy week. Lots of elf work going on here... shopping, making, baking. But it's all good, and I'm doing my very best not to stress out and enjoy the season this year. In between everything; Mike had oral surgery yesterday, but he's doing really well today. He was a happy man yesterday--Percocet, the couch, and complete control of the remote...  We have a rule here, if you're sick, you get the remote and the tv. 

Anyhoo, this is what I'm excited to see if Santa brings this year. It's on the top of Sophey's list. Out of the Pottery Barn catalog. I LOVE that catalog. It's my very favorite. And I'm so glad there's one more year I get to order from it before my last child has outgrown it all.

 
Look at this ridiculously adorable cake and cupcake set... it may have made the email to Santa list too. We'll have to wait and see;)

Here's my  "Mom Christmas time reminder list" for you (and me)-- take care of yourself. Don't stress, it will all be okay. What gets done gets done. Relax, and enjoy the little things. Does that take care of it all?! Oh, and bundle up if you go out and play:)

What's at the top of your giving or getting list this year? xoxoKelly

a friendly wish

Love this photo! I don't remember where it came from, but I've been waiting all year to use it!

Wishing my sweet blog friends a wonderful Thanksgiving  Day!! xoxoKelly

tales and a giveaway

Okay, here we go... I've been making more ornaments, and duplicates of these are here for you. Yes, that over-hyped giveaway is finally here folks...

So four handmade recylced, upcycled, sweet, sweater ornies could be yours-- for a comment:) How about your favorite or worst holiday story if you've got one too-- please do tell. Inquiring minds want to know;) Or just stop and say "hi!"

*****

So here's my Christmas tree decorating horror story: Christmas 1992. We had just moved back to Utah from a three-year Air Force stint in England. Mike had decided to take the Air Force early out option available at this time, and so we were able to settle down and buy our first home that October. We were excited to celebrate the holidays in our hew home as civilians. We had also promised the kids a dog after the move and house-buying. And so we did. We found a darling, young, spotted black and white shitzu mix at the pound. Ainsley instantly named her Spotley: in honor of herself-- Ains-ley, Spot-ley. (Because we are narcissistic like that sometimes.) Cute dog, cute house, cute kids. Christmas time. Life was sweet.

There was only one problem in the happy holiday homecoming story... I needed to have a painful, heel/bone spur removed before our military benefits ran out. Two days before Thanksgiving, I went in for the surgery. Two hours later, I woke up with a full cast (just below the knee) on my right leg. No one had told me any casts would be involved. No one?!! I was then told I would be in that cast for six weeks. I was an angry woman when I left the hospital... It was Christmas time, I had a seven-year old and an eighteen-month old baby, a new dog, and shopping to do. I couldn't drive. I couldn't walk. I had crutches. (There was no Amazon computer shopping back then.) It was icy outside. I had two pairs of sweat pants to wear for six weeks; jeans wouldn't go over my cast. I became an angrier woman in a hot pink sweatsuit. I looked ridiculous. Poor Mike.

Three weeks into cast wearing, it was time to get a new cast. The orthopedic tech asked if I wanted a colored cast this time. I somewhat sarcastically replied: ya, why don't you alternate the red and white cloth strips and make it look like a candy cane for Christmas... He did. Now I was an angry woman in a hot pink sweat suit with a candy cane cast on my right leg. And crutches. And Christmas fast approaching...

I think I'm making a long story longer here... Okay, onto tree decorating... Before my surgery, I made sure to bake dozens of our traditional gingerbread ornaments for the Christmas tree.  Four weeks in a cast had also made me a determined woman on crutches. I hobbled and hopped around the tree decorating the night away. I meticulously hung all those tucked-away gingerbread ornaments too. The tree was beautiful, and it was midnight. I hobbled to bed.

In the morning, I did my skip/hop/hobble downstairs to find a COMPLETELY DEMOLISHED Christmas tree. Almost every single ribbon hanger was empty of gingerbread ornaments. THE DOG HAD EATEN THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!! I learned that the cute new dog was apparantly part kangaroo, and could jump really high; while simultaneously eating gingerbread cookies. It never crossed my mind that I had made a tree bakery for the dog! (I grew up without a dog in the house.) I sat on the stairs and cried. After a really good feel-sorry-for-myself cry, I pulled everything off the tree and started over, minus gingerbread ornaments. I have never baked gingerbread cookies for a tree since, and I probably never will. As long as we have a dog in the house, anyways. Sheesh.

******* 

So tell us your stories-- good or bad about the holidays! And since you've stayed with me to the end of a post that was preeetty long, here's a little something extra.

 I've been making wreath brooches for my charity boutique this week.

They remind me of my grandmothers' and great aunts' pretty Christmas brooches. 

 
  

They're super simple to make. I'll post how-to's for sure next time:) 

And I'll leave this post up till Tuesday, Nov. 10th. Then we'll do a random draw. So pretty please... leave a comment or a story, I'd love to hear the tales!! xoxoKelly

P.S. If you are a local-- the MOTHERS WITHOUT BORDERS charity bazaar is this Friday and Saturday In Layton and Lehi, Utah. See above for details, and come if you can! 

Hallo-weekend

 
Well, that was a pretty long day or two wasn't it? Sorry. Halloween came along full swing, and I was feeling under the weather last week. It was a week I really wanted to enjoy-- so I did the best I could, in between a couple of migraines, and the last of a cold.

But we managed some yummy fun. I made all those mummy pizzas on the last post, and Sophey made these great cupcakes for Halloween. The decorating kits are from Wilton. We found the last package in Michaels (FYI) a month ago, and we tucked it away till last Friday. You'da thought we found gold. We've become baking geeks around here.

 

The zombie golfer had his bandages off by the time I got to his classroom party.So you'll need to imagine bloody, oozing bandages with golf balls glued to the bandages on top of his head. Nice, huh? Obviously, golfer zombies don't believe in wearing coordinated clothing with their bandages... And Caddyshack Rodney Dangerfield was out the door on Halloween night before I could get a good photo again. 

 

 But these girls werer happy to show off their costumes. Sophey the scary fairy and best friend Scarlett had a blast. (They could pass for sisters, couldn't they?)

And I'm working on finishing that giveaway I keep talking about... really, stay tuned. xoxoKelly

a walking exercise in creativity

 
After dropping the kids off at school this week; I drove to the old area of our little town, and took some long walks.  I needed a change of scenery from my neighborhood walkabout. And what glorious scenery there was to see right now!

I think my favorite things about fall are the brilliant colors, front porches decorated for Halloween; how excited my kids are for trick-or-treating, and their endless costume planning. And candy corn, of course.

 
Love the old Grandma houses in this neighborhood... 

And all the pumpkin decorated porches.

 
The methodically decorated houses.

 
The sparsely decorated houses.

And the porches which seem to suggest lots of children living there...

 
I'll bet the Rodgers family lives here, what do you think?;)

 

And so with all that delicious, autumness inspiring me-- I got busy. I've wanted to try and make a fall garland out of recycled wools and fabrics for a long time, so I did. (I know I said I'd do the ornament how to's this week, but ornaments can wait a week, right?) Fall is wonderful right now...I'll do a giveaway too, we haven't done that in ages. Next week for sure!

I thought it would be really cool to make chains from the wool. I was really wrong. After ten chains; my eyes glazed over. After twelve chains; my eyes rolled back into my head. I nearly had a seizure. Ridiculously TEDIOUS, I tell you! 

 
I then had a much better idea: strips of garland. Yes, strips are good, and a garland happens in no time. But I still didn't want to sew all those strips together.

Best idea so far: garage sale scrapbook brads! I had a whole tin of them sitting by me, just waiting for a new purpose in life:)

 

  
 
  Strips now mixed together with those tedious chains. Much better...

 

Leaves brad-tacked on, and mantel draped. I think it makes my dated family room mantle really perk up, and say fall la la la la! (Sorry.)

Well, we're off to buy our pumpkins at our favorite patch-- our porch is currently pathetic. And I'm stopping at the fabric store to buy one of those quilty template things to use with my cool, new rotary cutter. I have strips to cut, and more garlands to make!

Have a great weekend. xoKelly

loving it

 
Like about Tuesday, I realized my kids were out of school this Thursday and Friday. My crafting plans shifted into low-priority gear, while having fun with kids shifted into high-priority gear. Fall is really here now, the temperatures are apple-crispy. So refreshing. Yesterday, all I wanted to do was play with kids, bake, and hand sew things-- exactly what I managed to do:) (Don't you love it when your day  becomes your to-do list?!) 

I was also the spectator for a tough "boys vs. dogs" soccer match. I don't know who had more fun, or who won :) But they were all in seventh heaven for the afternoon...

 

And so was Miss Sophey. Haunted house painting and fall baking with Mom-- this girls' seventh heaven. She learned to bake a pumpkin pie yesterday too.

 
The finished" Haunted Henderson House". Accessorized with homemade clay flower pots. Sophey said, "It just needed a litle something more." She kills me.

And being the apple that didn't fall far from the tree...

 
she decorated the inside with old dollhouse furniture.

We decorated these little numbers too. Oh my goodness, can you say rich? Hershey's Kisses are now in candy corn flavor! (I'll post the recipe at the end for you.)

And then we decorated our favorite, old kitchen sideboard with our new art.

 
  
 
In and around and between kids, I finished a couple of cats for Etsy, and started on projects for the charity boutique. I've made about thirty Red ribbon pins so far... more handmade show and tell to follow next week!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  xoxo~Kelly

P.S. candy corn not included with cat-- who invented this stuff, and why do I like eating sugar-wax?

***HALLOWEEN KISSES COOKIES***

1/2 C butter, softened

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

Additional sugar

40 Hersheys candy corn kisses,unwrapped and then frozen. They melt too quickly if they're not frozen first.

In a bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.Cover and chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Roll into 1-inch balls, then roll in additional sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 325 for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately press a kiss into the center of each cookie.

Press a kiss on a kid-- oh wait, that's my recipe ;)