Merry Christmas, Darlings

I can honestly say that I've never had a better Christmas than this one. Evan and I spent so much time with family and got to see my wonderful nephews and little niece for so many days! 

You know me, though. It wouldn't be Christmas without me going a little overboard! 

Christmas presents remind me of bunnies...they seem to multiply when you're not looking!

First of all, if any of you have small children who just LOVE to help pass out packages, this is probably the best thing ever! Normally, we use tags and write people's names on their packages...but this year, I wanted to make it a little easier for the boys to pass things out. Since neither one of them can really read yet, I decided to use pictures! Also, since we had to transport all of our packages from Atlanta to Augusta with a nosy puppy in the back who LOVES eating ribbons, we needed something that was flat. Hence, the birth of my most brilliant idea so far: Face Labels! I printed out their faces on round labels and stuck them in the middle of our craft paper and washi tape packages. They were a huge hit with the boys (and my dad...he thought they were very cool. Thanks for thinking everything I do is awesome, dad!) as they sat there and said "Dat's ME! Oh Dat's Mama! Hey, Dat's BWODY!" 

A little dark, but they were having so much fun!

It was so much fun! :) 

Most of the presents I bought this year seemed to be alcohol-related...corksicles for my sister and aunt to keep their wine perfectly chilled, this gorgeous print of a photo-realistic Ketel One bottle watercolor for my dad, recycled wine bottle cheese plates for my cousins...and, for my brother-in-law, this:

Merry Booze-mas to Adam!

Yes, that's right. It's a Christmas tree made out of mini alcohol bottles. For the past few years, I've gotten Adam the newest Crown Royal flavors. This year, they came out with Crown Royal Maple. It's pretty damn good. But rather than just get him one bottle, I decided to make life hard on myself and make it into a Christmas tree! Yay! Great idea...

Seriously, go out and try this...it's good.

Basically, it's a styrafoam cone wrapped in washi tape stuck with mini bottles hot-glued onto skewers. I added the ornaments afterwards because I needed it to look a little more festive.  In retrospect, I would have gotten more minis...I was too tired to deal with it by the time I realized I needed more. 

I think he was ok with it though! :) 

For my last little art project, I decided to make the boys matching superhero capes! :) They turned out really well, I think. 

Want to know more on how I made these?
I'll post a how-to some other time!

I needle-felted the arm bands, masks and emblems before I heat bonded them to the satin fabric. My mom ended up going back over the velcro bits with the sewing machine because I had used iron-on velcro and, apparently, that is not strong enough to withstand these little guys. 

Brave Brody!

Loyal Luke!

I also made Cali a matching one so they could all play together! :) 

Courageous Cali!

And then I got bored on my day off and made this...

I really hate doing laundry...so I procrastinate. Sue me. 

All in all, this was an amazing Christmas! Evan and I feel as though we've been caught in a tornado (which we might actually be if this crazy weather doesn't clear up...tornadoes on Christmas...not cool, earth. Noooooot cool.) of family, friends, food and fun, but we wouldn't have it any other way! 

On behalf of our little family and our first married Christmas, we'd like to wish everyone we know (and those of you we don't) a safe and happy holiday season! 

Christmas Eve photos on the steps of the Old Cotton Mill in Augusta

May visions of sugarplums (or liver treats, if you're Cali) dance in your heads for many nights to come! 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

What goes better with Christmas than Eggnog?

Answer: Nothing. 

Well, actually. Velvet Hammers go best with Christmas, but that's a post for later. 

For now, I want to tell you a little bit about these delicious eggnog cupcakes I made. 

They're not just eggnog cupcakes, though...they're Bourbon Eggnog Cupcakes with a Caramel Bourbon Eggnog Buttercream Frosting. 

They're decadent. They're moist. They're...AMAZING. 

I can't claim the creative rights to these heavenly delights. I found them on pinterest, courtesy of the Cupcake Bakeshop. 

Yeah...this batter rocked. Almost didn't make it to cupcake stage. 

But they did...eventually.

Oh...did I mention they were filled with a bourbon eggnog custard? Yep...they were!

I did make a slight change with the caramel...inadvertently. I didn't have any heavy whipping cream on hand (some silly husband didn't pick it up...but he did get everything else, so I guess I can give him a pass) so I just used eggnog in its place. Yummy! 

Just as a side note, I was inspired to create these eggnog tasties thanks to Mrs. Ruth, one of my wonderful residents. She may not be able to see very well or remember my name (ever), but that woman knows how to make some MEAN eggnog. She makes this stuff from scratch and she didn't tell me until 1/2 way through the glass that she poured me (at work, mind you) that there was 1 liter of bourbon and 1 liter of rum in it. 

I might have wanted to take a nap, but it was so worth it!

Merry Christmas, one and all!

I need a hobby...

That's totally a lie. I have so many hobbies that sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about which one I want to do. However, I did just pick up a new one: Needlefelting.

What is Needlefelting? It's basically stabbing a ball of wool with a little needle with barbs on the end until the wool fibers are interwoven into a hard-ish mass. What can you make in this fashion? Lots of things!

I started with tiny versions of my furry babies:

I didn't quite get the one of Mercedes finished before she went to her new home, but I'm glad I have it now. These will be going on our Christmas tree shortly!

Reunited and it feels so good!

I'm pretty happy with the detail I got into the back of Merce.
Her stripes were one of my favorite things about her!

I also created a pillow for my boss for her birthday. We had seen a pillow a while back that said "Tonight" on one side and "Not Tonight" on the other. 

She joked that she would buy it if it said "Not Tonight" on both sides. So that's what we gave her! :) 

Thanks to my lovely assistant, Lisa, at work. Here she is modeling our pillow...

And here's the second side!  

I did the sides all kinds of wrong, but they ended up pretty cool!

I cut out the letters from a wool felt sheet and
placed them on the other sheet before needling them together.

The sides of the pillow pre assembly.

Just so you have an idea, this is what I used to create everything: 

The green thing is the needle tool. It's spring-loaded.
Much easier than the single needle tool I used for Cali and Merce! 

Make sure you have a pad or foam block or brush of some sort. Otherwise you'll stab yourself repeatedly. Which I might have done. 

I literally put my blood, sweat and tears into each of these projects!