by Cindy on December 7, 2009
I am sure blogs across the East Coast are happily announcing the First Snow of the season. We were a bit surprised here in VA to receive much more snow than anticipated! The timing couldn’t have been better. We were on our way to a gingerbread house -decorating party given by the family of one of my son’s former classmates.
And what a setting for gingerbread decorating…Amphora Diner – a restaurant group known for their bakery. We were greeted by Santa when we arrived (see, I told ya they had an amazing bakery….just look at that glass case). Santa was so sweet and a modern guy at that…..he was snapping pictures too and handed out his email address so we could request copies of his pictures!
There were rows of perfect little gingerbread houses just waiting to take on a candy coating. Just about every seat in the room was eventually filled. It was like walking in to a candy shop with all of the confections set out… I think my sons were in heaven! There was good old fashioned ribbon candy alongside penguin gummis.
The spirit of holiday traditions continued when we returned home. My husband decided it would be the day to make the annual fruit cake. There was talk of secret ingredients and how this little tradition started in the first place (my Grandmother). We may not eat a lot of the fruitcake, but like life, it’s about the memories made a long the way!
And speaking of holiday cooking…thank you to all who have joined in the Artbeads gift certificate give away on my previous post. I can’t wait to pick the winner/s!!
by Cindy on December 4, 2009
Just in time for your holiday projects, how would you like to win a $25.00 email gift certificate to Artbeads.com?? 🙂 Artbeads was very generous in offering gift certificates to give away to the members of their blogging team. Head on over to Artbeads and you’ll find all the beads you need for your next project… in fact there are several great sales going on right now. There’s even a special on selected sterling silver beads and components until December 10th.
I thought it would be fun to combine this give away with the upcoming holidays!! Next to beads you know I love great FOOD! Let’s share our favorite holiday dishes – anything from appetizers to dessert. To enter the give away, please leave a comment listing a favorite dish that you love to prepare (or look forward to someone else preparing!). The random winner of this $25.00 Artbeads gift certificate will then be asked to share the recipe to that dish! ….so please don’t enter the name of a family secret! 🙂 BONUS: I’ll randomly pick 2 extra names as runner ups – to win a little mix of sterling silver beads. Hopefully once I’ve heard from all of the winners I’ll have a few great recipes to share (and I’ll add one too!) here on my blog.
Would you like to play?? Come on, leave a comment with your favorite holiday dish and be entered to win!! This Give Away will end on Monday, Dec. 7th at 11:00 pm EST.
Oh, and there’s even one more chance to win a gift certificate! Artbeads is hosting a Holiday Cheer Sweepstakes…. Stop by and enter for a $100 Gift Card on the Artbeads Facebook Fan Page!!
Blogger FTC disclosure: I have received any products and gift certificates free of charge from Artbeads and I am simply reviewing and sharing information about this site.
by Cindy on November 30, 2009
Welcome back!!! How was your Thanksgiving weekend? I can NOT believe how fast it all went. Here it is Monday, and now we’re facing the holiday season. My Fall wreath is still hanging on the door. I told my husband when we left for Florida that when we returned, it would look out of season. Those fall colors are put too quickly behind us and are replaced with red, green, silver and gold.
We made it home safe and sound yesterday, and I can’t complain. There were stretches once we made it back in to VA where we could only drive 15 miles an hour, but all that matters is that we had a great time and made it home safely. If I haven’t stopped by your blog recently, I apologize. I have a lot of catching up to do! If you’ll humor me, I’ll share some pictures from Florida. We had a great time with my brother, sister-in-law, and their sons (ages 3 and 13 months). We made it to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, the town of St. Augustine, my baby nephew’s beautiful Baptism, and a few playgrounds in between. That’s a lot to pack in to such a short time!
Before I left on our trip, I was happy to mail out my charms for the Charmster’s 12 Days of Christmas Charm Swap. I was assigned “11 Pipers Piping”….hmm, now how would you tackle that one? Not too difficult when you can find some great clip art! The tricky part for me though was putting the images in the little Patera bezels. With the help of my friend Jeanette, I tackled resin for the first time. We used Ice Resin and I found out first-hand that there is a learning curve involved with this stuff! Some of the charms turned out better than others, and I’ve learned a few things to try/avoid the next time. I made tags for the charms to resemble book marks. Maybe they can be slipped in to the pages of a Christmas classic, such as “The Nutcracker” or “A Christmas Carol” (can you guess what books my husband pulled out already?)
*I need to add here that I’ll be laying low as I work on a few projects with LOOMING deadlines! I’ll be a bit swamped in the next few weeks getting those projects completed (along with the usual holiday craziness!). I’ll pop in when I can!
Have a great week!
Follow Me on Pinterest
