Christmas Ornaments

Here is a felt seahorse that I made....

...and a retro santa that we've had forever.......

....some new ornaments on my mom's tree.....

....a button ornament I made last year......

...and a photo of our tree!

Sugar Cookies

Here are a couple pictures of this year's Christmas cookies. Typically, we make peanut butter cookie cut outs and decorate. This year I made sugar cookies from this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Rolled-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx Above you can see Melanie's Obama Tribute Cookie. The weird clown below started out as a regular cookie man but I just kept adding frosting until it was crazy enough.

Christmas Eve

It must be Christmas Eve because Santa is here! Ha! Okay, don't worry; this is not becoming a cute cat blog. I couldn't resist, though.

It's almost Christmas! I've been so busy with cookies and crafts for sale, that I don't feel very prepared. Above is one of the designs I made for Christmas cards this year.

Mr. Boots "helps" me make a wreath.....

I'll post a picture of the finished wreath (sans cat) soon. The battery on the camera died before I could get a good pic.

More Felt Ornaments

Yes, I know - more owls! What can I say? Owls are very fun to make. They all have their own quirky personalities, depending on how long the ears are, the color of their beaks, which buttons I pick for the eyes. Do you like the cupcake? I'm pretty pleased with it.

Christmas Cookies

As I mentioned, I've been baking cookies for sale these past few weeks. I do an assortment of oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, butter cookies, and oatmeal chocolate chip. They are pretty delicious and fun to wrap but pretty exhausting, too, in such large batches. I would like to make and decorate some cut out cookies for family and friends but don't know if I will have time.

I got my PB cookie recipe from Allrecipes.com and the only change I made was to substitute about a 1/4 cup of the flour for wheat flour:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mrs-Siggs-Peanut-Butter-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Owl Ornaments

Here are two felt ornaments I made recently. The one below was custom made for my friend Lindsey. The other is the type that I am selling this Christmas.

Lots of December Projects......

I can't believe it's already December 7th! I've been terrible about blogging lately but have been busy with lots of Christmas projects. I am making felt ornaments for sale, baking cookies for sale, and trying to get my apartment decorated for Christmas. I will try to post some more pictures soon but here is a picture of a snowman ATC I did earlier this month. We've been getting lots of snow lately - it doesn't accumulate to much but it seems like it is always snowing.

Felt Ornament for Swap

I made these two felt ornaments for a swap on swap bot. My swap partner loves tea so I thought this was appropriate. I'm making felt ornaments for sale this Christmas and will show some pictures of those soon.

Crazy Owl ATCs

The theme for this swap was "Crazy Owls" - owls that crazy patterns or colors, anything but what you would find in nature.

Dia De Los Muertos ATCs

What do you think? I love Mexican Day of the Dead art. It's so colorful with lots of cool patterns.

Halloween 2008

Here is my jack o'lantern above. I decided to go for something creepy with a lot of teeth, this year! Below is Melanie's cute owl; it looks really cool all lit up!

Here is a picture of the treat bags that Melanie and I made this year. I hope you can tell that they are supposed to be witches' brooms! I got the idea from Martha Stewart and adapted it a little for those of us who aren't quite as skilled as Martha.

Below is Melanie's Halloween cake, complete with skeletons haunting the cemetary.

Fall Tree and Links to Other Projects

Here is a picture of a cool fall craft project that I did with some friends a little while ago. It was fun and pretty easy. The idea was originally posted on this blog:

http://thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-paint-fall-trees.html

It was also posted here, along with a lot of other really cool projects:

http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/

Autumn Walk

Apple Pecan Quick Bread

I had some apples that were getting a little soft to eat so I made this bread (more like a coffee cake) to use them up. I baked a double batch in a shallow pyrex baking pan. I find that quick breads cooked in a loaf pan are almost always undercooked on the inside and too dry on the outside. For this bread, I substituted half the apples for cranberries as the recipe suggests. I also added about two teaspoons of cinnamon, a teaspoon of vanilla, and a dash of nutmeg to the batter. Finally, I sprinkled cinnamon and sugar over the top to create a crunchy crust when baked. It was delicious - very moist and the cranberries' tartness offsets the sweetness.

Here is the link to the recipe below. I got it off Epicurious but it is orginally from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/APPLE-PECAN-QUICK-BREAD-102833

Skull ATCs

Halloween ATCs

Fall Colors

After a particulary crappy day at work, I took a little stroll around the neighborhood. A gazillion tree and leaf photos later, I felt able to deal with human kind again.

Happy Birthday, Laura!

This week was my friend and roommate's 21st birthday. Yes, she is practically a child still. But now one who can drink legally, I guess. Above is a banner I made out of cardstock and strung with ribbon.

Above is a snapshot of Laura's cake. Actually, it is a brownie with brownie bites all around. The attempt at an actual cake was a disaster. It looked terrible - lopsided, oozing filling, the frosting was separating, ugh. Anyway, Laura loves clocks and Laura loves cheeseburgers. So, here she is (yes, that lumpy figure it supposed to represent Laura. Sorry, Laura) eating a cheeseburger and sitting on a giant clock that is covered in cream cheese frosting.

More ATCs!

The theme for this swap was "Movable Parts". So, I did this mushroom pop-up above and the record player one below.

Flower ATC

I thought I would try something a little different. Papercutting and silhouettes are all the rage on some of the blogs I've been reading so this is my take on that trend.

Robots - not the scary kind

New (and not so new) additions to the decor

I know that this pink poodle on velvet is tacky but I love him so! When I tell people I got him for a dollar, some people say, "Only a dollar! Awesome!" and some people say, "You paid a dollar for that?"

Another awesome thing is this framed album cover below. We are big fans of the new Battlestar Galactica. Not some much of the old one (have you seen it? it's so cheesy!) but I am definitely digging the kitschy 70's artwork.