Christmas Owls

Each year I try to think of an ornament that is small and flat and will fit in a Christmas card.  I send them out to the friends and family that we do not get to see very often.  This year, I was inspired by Diversions to create this cute Christmas Owl ornament.

They have a pattern that can be found here.

Due to time constraints and general lack of organization on my part, there was no possible way for me to get all of my ornaments done in time to mail them out with the Christmas cards this year.  So, if you would like a Christmas Owl ornament, and I haven't already given you one, just message me!  I'll send one right out to ya.  There's plenty to go around, I just can't promise that they will be there by Christmas.

Happy Holidays,

~Amy  :)

Christmas Goodies

Sometimes my crafting/baking endeavors are incredibly successful.  Other times, not so much.  Things tend to be a little bit more romantic and festive in my head than they are in real life.  Kinda like last night when I said "Wouldn't it be so much more fun to hand-dip your own Oreos in white chocolate rather than buying them from the store?"

The answer is no.

It is, however, sticky and messy and tedious.  But since white chocolate dipped Oreos are one of Brett's favorite holiday treats, we'll consider it a labor of love.

Here is my one crowning victory:

And oodles of other not-so-attractive hand dipped Oreos.

No worries, though.  Even the ugly ones are still quite tasty.

These hand dipped pretzels, were much easier and less sticky and less messy to make, not to mention much more my style:

 Salty+Crunchy+Sweet=Holiday Happiness.  :)

Christmas Ornament Spruce Up

I was feeling a little bit bored this year with the Christmas ornament balls that we use as filler on our Christmas tree, so I thought I would spruce them up a bit. (Spruce--how's that for a little Christmas tree humor?)

 Here are the necessary ingredients:

-Plenty of ornament balls. I went to Big Lots and got the cheapest ones I could find. I'm not ashamed to admit that. Plus, then there's no love lost of you mess one up or drop one on your tile floor and it shatters into a million pieces. Not that I have any experience with either of those scenarios.

-You will also need some puff paint (craft glue would work too) and some glitter.

Fortunately, I still had my outrageously overpriced glitter on hand from last year's ornament project.

Then have at it! Use your glue/paint to create whatever design strikes you and then sprinkle with glitter.

After it's all dry a little rinse gets the excess glitter off.

Here are a few of mine:

 

 

 

A word to the wise: When you rinse off your ornaments do not use hot water. The hot water will cause the mysterious substance that makes the ball colored to come off. Again, not that I have any experience with this. 

I'm just sayin'. It could happen.

Deck The Halls

Christmas decorating has been in full swing here at the Vowles house.

 We went last week and picked out a Christmas Tree from Target.  It wasn't quite as exciting as years past when we have cut down our own tree, but we love our tree nonetheless.

We got the tree into place...

And then we strung it with lights and garland.

Now it's looking more Christmasy!

Finally, we hung our ornaments, and voila!

Bed, Bath & Beyond talked me into these festive red placemats to help our table be more Christmasy too.

(Have I told you about this table?  It was a $50 Craigslist find that we couldn't be happier with.  Definitely a good replacement for our other table that did not survive the move!)  

They also talked me into some cinnamon scented pine cones that I used to make this DIY centerpiece.  I just filled a pretty bowl with the cinnamon scented pine cones and added a few sprigs of glittery flowers from Michael's and you have an instant centerpiece! 

More Christmas-related posts to follow.  Happy decorating, everyone!

Stories from San Diego: The Little Pine Tree That Could

This giant pine tree began as a teeny tiny pine tree in a pot that my mom gave Brett's mom for Christmas four or five years ago. When I say teeny tiny I mean really teeny tiny. Maybe 4 inches tall.

We planted it mostly out of pity. "You can't throw away a tree," and we never expected it to survive. Now, just a few years later it has grown to be over 10 feet tall!

Definitely The Little Pine Tree That Could.

Christmas Week(end)

Brett and I each had a five day weekend for Christmas which was WONDERFUL. Actually, Brett is off from school for 2 whole weeks, although he is still going in to see patients on certain days. We got even more snow. I swear there was at least a rock solid (and I really mean rock solid) foot of snow on the ground outside just from the past week. We are handling snow removal for our neighbors while they are out of town. They conveniently picked a very snowy week to be away, but we don't mind because they're good neighbors. Here is my snow-shoveling husband out clearing the walks on Christmas Eve:


I was so excited to FINALLY have a white Christmas that I just had to take a snowy picture in front of our tree in our front yard.


Later that day we went to see the movie Four Christmases, which Brett & I can totally relate to. Then we drove all over town looking for a restaurant that was open for dinner. There were surprisingly few restaurants open for Christmas Eve dinner. After dinner and a movie we returned home to make some cut-out cookies. Brett & I have always just called them sugar cookies, but everyone in Iowa seems to call them cut-out cookies, so I will call them that too. :)


Christmas morning we slept in. It was wonderful. Then we went out to see what Santa had left under the tree:



(lovin' the bed-head)

Santa even brought something for Moose:


We hung out, relaxed, watched a Christmas Story a few times and made our own Christmas dinner. I don't have any pictures of that.

Friday we did our part to keep the economy going ;) by heading out for some day-after-Christmas shopping. I'm afraid I don't have a picture of that either, but we had a good time.

The rest of the weekend Brett & I focused on cleaning and getting more organized. I am especially proud of my completely re-organized closet:


I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Toys

This year, in lieu of an office gift exchange, we decided to pool our money and buy toys for needy children. My co-workers Amanda and Jordan and I went to lunch and afterward went shopping for the kids. We had lots of fun together, and it feels good to help out a good cause.
Racecars for the boys:


And a cart full of toys:

Last Weekend

I figure that since this weekend is pretty much over, I should probably blog about last weekend before time gets away from me.

Thursday was bowling night, as usual. Brett was on fire that night and bowled five consecutive strikes! We have since learned that this feat is called a "five-bagger" in bowling lingo.


Brett's look of pride after bowling five strikes:


Friday night was the much-anticipated Christmas Craft night at my house. My friends Meggan..:


...and Kelly..:


...came over for some food, wine and Christmas crafts. If that sounds to you like a winning combination, let me tell you- it is.

We made all kinds of ornaments, including these cool round ornaments made out of scrapbook paper:


and reindeer magnets made out of Christmas light bulbs:

Then Meggan had the idea to make boy & girl reindeer, so we added bows to some of them:


We also made more of these ornaments from Homemade by Jill that I previously blogged about.


On Saturday we wrapped some Christmas presents...

...and I made Moose a stocking. He had been needing one for some time now:


Saturday night we went with our friends Kelly (above) and her husband, Matt to Clinton, IA (about 45 minutes away if you don't get lost) to check out the Symphony of Lights. We sipped hot cocoa, ate some yummy gingerbread, and looked at all the pretty lights in the snow. It all felt very festive and Christmas-y.




...Then on Sunday I finally finished this adorable baby quilt for my friend Tara who is expecting a baby boy any time now:

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year for Thanksgiving we headed over to our friends Keven & Tiff's house. We had a really great time just hanging out and relaxing with good friends. After our delicious Thanksgiving feast, we all kicked back for some board games: Apples to Apples and a rather heated round of Battle of the Sexes.


On Friday morning we got up and made the annual pilgrimage out to Milan, IL to Jack Frost Pines tree farm to chop down our very own Christmas tree. I had a total Clark Griswold moment when I saw this tree:


But since we don't have 20 foot ceilings, we opted for this more practical tree next to it:


We then went home and trimmed our tree and decked our halls for Christmas. Later that day our friend Kelly dropped by so we had her take our picture in front of our Christmas tree.


For dinner on Friday we cooked our very own Thanksgiving dinner, that way Brett can enjoy his leftover turkey sandwiches for a few days.

This extra-long weekend has allowed me some time to work more on my Christmas crafts. I made some glittered snowflake ornaments (inspired by Homemade by Jill). I think they turned out quite nicely.


[Let me tell you, if there were a list of things that I never thought I would spend $10 on, at the top of it would be a single tube of Martha Stewart extra-fine Antique Silver glitter. But, what's a girl to do? If there was a list of things I'm glad I didn't spend $10 on, on it would be the Martha Stewart make your own tissue paper flower kit (found next to the glitter)... I think I handled that one pretty well on my own.]

Today we headed to Coralville, IA to check out the Coral Ridge mall. It is much larger and nicer than any malls we have here in the Quad Cities. We successfully managed to get the vast majority of our Christmas shopping done, which is a relief.

Now our evening plans involve watching Wall-E and wrapping some Christmas gifts. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow, so I think we will stay in and avoid the crowds and the cold. :-)

My New Toy

I finally got the time to test drive one of my new toys I received for Christmas this year. It's a cool graphics tablet that allows me to use a special pen that acts like a mouse. I'm really quite excited about it. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Love,
Brett & Amy

'Bout Time for a Blog Post?

My apologies for my recent lack of blog posts. I have been very busy with work, Christmas, yada, yada, yada... That, and we really haven't done anything interesting lately. ;)

Yesterday, however, we had a great time hanging out with our friends Dean & Michelle. We went and took some pictures in front of Palmer College & Capri College (where Michelle goes to Massage Therapy School) for their Christmas frame ornament collection. After that we went to their place for 2 exciting rounds of Settlers of Catan, yummy dinner, and good conversation. :)

Today, Brett & I decided to partake in the Christmas ritual of sugar-cookie baking. In our house, Christmas just isn't Christmas until we have baked some sugar cookies.

Other than Christmas cookies, an exciting lunch at Applebee's and a trip to the grocery store, our day pretty much consisted of watching movies. We watched 1/2 of Superbad (if you want to be disgusted, rent this movie) and Pirates of the Caribbean- At World's End (long, but good). Last night at Dean & Michelle's we watched Ocean's Thirteen (also good).

I am sure I will have more to report tomorrow. Merry Christmas Eve!

Since I'm Pretty Sure My Brother Never Reads This...

...And even if he does, I'm REALLY sure my nephew never reads this, I thought I'd share my latest quilting creation. This is the Charger quilt that I made for my nephew, Zach, for Christmas. Thanks to our recent ice storm, I actually had time to complete it today. :-)

Again, I swear that the edges actually are square, it's just the angle that makes them look slanted.

And with that, I retire from the baby quilting business. :-P

Very Christmas-y

Is it just me, or does nothing say "Christmas is coming" quite like red snow-covered berries?