For my best friend (my sister)

During our recent trip to the mountains we visited the Cherokee Indian Reservation and I picked up these all leather moccasins for my sister. She loves different, artsy-crafty things (and flats!). They were just too cute. Thought I would share with you all!

Still working on Mommy elephant (during my study breaks)...

Yum!

After 2 days of 70 degree weather (so weird in the middle of January) it feels SOOOO cold outside today (even though it was only 45 degrees). A nice cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows (yum!) is all I needed to cozy up and settle in to study (yuck!). Big test coming up! Keep me in your prayers!

A (Half of a) Project Completed

When I saw this pattern in S.E.W. I could not wait to make it for my niece. EVERYTHING in her world right now comes in a pair, "a mama, a bebe" as she likes to say. So this pair of elephants, a mommy & baby, I knew would make the perfect gift for her. I tried to get to this before Christmas but ran out of time...so, I am starting early and my plan is to gift this for Valentine's Day (because both DH and So are my sweethearts!). Pictured is the baby elephant which really whipped up quite fast considering it was my first ever stuffed animal. Can't wait to get the mommy elephant finished...I'll post the pair when the project is really completed.

Only one bites the dust...

Every year we loose a few. This year I thought things were going so well...I hadn't lost a single ornament until today. While taking down our tree (and all things Christmas-y) this one escaped somewhere between the tree, my hand and the ornament box. Oh well, DH says we need all new bulbs next year because ours are starting to fade/loose color in spots. Has anyone else had this problem?

So, I can't get 2008 Christmas ideas out of my head now. I know! It is WAAAY too early to think about all of this but it might take me that long to get them all done. The one at the front of my mind is this: why replace the Christmas bulbs? I could make ornaments. One inspiration I cannot stop thinking of these little hanging babushka dolls on rosehip blog. I want, I want, I want. Making ornaments could be broken down into something cute like this...make a new ornament each month so by December - a set of 12 new ornaments! Each ornament could be introduced to the tree on each of the 12 days of Christmas! ooo...it could be a blog challenge! Anyone want to participate and blog an ornament of the month? Let me know and then I could iron out the details and post them here on the blog. Leave your comments!

Mountains!

Wow...just look at that view. Mountains for miles...90 to be exact! The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is amazing. January is a great time to visit too because it is the month with the least number of visitors (no crowds) and the best views from Newfound Gap (visibility of 90 miles compared to only 20 during the summer months)! Take/rent a 4WD vehicle and wear warm clothes - temps at the top of the mountain are 10-15 degrees cooler than in the towns below. You gotta go sometime...very refreshing. I'll be posting more pictures of our amazing Smoky Mountain adventure soon.

Re-purposed Christmas Ornament

So I loved this idea! Basically, to make the centerpiece for my table on New Year's Eve I found 2 oval mirrored Christmas ornaments that I have had stashed away for a couple of years. Using Microsoft Word I just made 2 simple sayings...one said "Happy New Year" and the other is above...printed & cut them out...put them in the frames and voila! Cute little mirrored messages. THEN, to make it super cute I placed them over some crystal candlesticks. The result was stunning I must say.

DH & I will be taking a little trip over the next couple of days to recharge our batteries before heading back to the daily grind. Hope you all have a great first week in 2008!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008!
I hope everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the new year. We had a family gathering at our house and it was wonderful. Lots of good food and the family favorite - brownies & ice cream - for dessert! We watched the ball drop in NYC complete with sparkling cider in little champagne flutes! Blessings to all in 2008!