Pinterest Party in December

Janell, Melanie, and Jeena hosted a family Pinterest Party in December.  They divided us up into groups, and each group found a project and a treat off Pinterest.  It was really fun, and the only thing I regretted was I couldn't stay very long.  Our work Christmas party was that evening, so I had to leave and go home to get ready.
Tonya's group made clipboards, and everyone seemed to really enjoy making those.  Danelle, who was in charge of our group, picked a scrub to make.  "Pumpkin Pie Scrub" and she had picked up the cutest bottles to put it in at Hobby Lobby when we went shopping in Boise.  At Archiver's, she found little plastic spoons, which we tied on the bottles with gingham fabric she had torn in narrow strips.  Sally & I had the easy part.  Brown sugar, white sugar, Safflower oil, and pumpkin pie spice. 
Tari's group made large plates with a word on them.  Mine was red, and I put "Peace" in the middle of it.  I brought it home and stood in on an easel by my tree, and it was perfect.
I hope this becomes a tradition, because it was a ton of fun plus wonderful food.  Thanks Ahern's for hosting.

Men's cards

As I've said before, I go through ALOT of men's cards.  Mainly for work, but I also send to everyone in our family...and there's a few men in it too.  So, when Jeff and I were in Boise I went to Archiver's and found some manly looking paper and a few stickers that I thought would be nice.  Last weekend I made about 3 times as many as I'm showing here.  That should last me for a couple of months at least.
Yesterday I spent most of the day taking down decorations.  Jeff asked me why I put it all up, take it all down, pack it away...haul it to and from the shop.  I told him I love decorating for Christmas.  I love to sit in the living room with the lights on the tree and just look at it.  To me, it's peaceful.  I love all the lights people put up, and would love to do more myself.  But, it is a big job.  There's no getting around that.  But to me...it's worth every minute.

Caramel Sauce

Before Christmas, I found a recipe for caramel sauce on Pinterest.  I thought it sounded super good, and we were giving fruit baskets to some of our customers, so I decided to make some to go with the baskets.  The website said it was really good to dip fruit in...so I bought a dozen new pint jars and made about four batches of the sauce.  UMMMMM.
You boiled sugar, brown sugar, Karo, and butter just like you were making caramels.  Then you took it off the stove and let it cool for five minutes.  Then added a cup of whipping cream....no wonder it was so good.
Anyway, I dipped something in it...then just started eating it with a spoon it was sooo good.  Hope my customers liked it.  I've also given a few jars to family. 

 

Hats and gloves for United Electric

United Electric always has a tree before Christmas, that they decorate with hats and gloves.  Then just before the Holiday, they donate them.  I'm not actually sure where they take them...the Christmas council or the schools...not sure.  but, I've donated for the last couple of years.
I also made Ruger a hat for Christmas.  The rest of the family all have theirs that I made, so I figured he needed one too.  He was so cute in it.  And he even left it on.
Notice the awesome grey flower....Robin made that for our flower exchange.  I hated to give it away, but...it sure matched the hat well.

Robe's for Ellie and Kylee

This "Hello  Kitty" fleece was just so cute and I thought maybe it would make a nice, warm robe for Ellie and Kylee.  I bought it, and had it in my cart at WalMart, and everytime I would pass another cart that had a little girl in it, she would say:  " Hello Kitty....Hello Kitty...and point.  So I figured I'd made a good choice.  It was pretty easy to sew on since it didn't fray or anything.  I made Ellie's with the pink trim and Kylee's with the white...just so they could tell them apart on Christmas Eve.
They both had to try them on, and both immediately discarded the belt...oh well.

My next 8 LED jars

I have had so much fun giving these jars away.  No one seems to have seen them before, so it's exciting for me to see how fascinated they are with them.  I even opened up all the blinds in the front bedroom to let them get some sun so they'll shine.  Just such a cute idea!
Well, are you ready for Christmas?  I thought of one more thing I need to pick up today, but I can get that at work...no more going to WalMart.  I hate that store.  I have stood in line for up to 45 minutes to check out, and in Burley, Idaho....that ridiculous.  I don't understand why they can't have more than 2 or 3 checkers working at a time.  The last line I got in on Friday afternoon, had to be the slowest checker I've EVER seen.  The lady behind me picked up a magazine, and I told her she could probably have it read before we got up to the checkstand, and I think she did....
Anyway, it's here.  Whether we're ready or not.
Merry Christmas to everyone.

Surprise gift!

This is a surprise....I'll explain more about it later.  After Christmas....
We're getting snow!  I love it.  Except that we have to go to work in the morning.  I don't know why.  All our vendors will be closed and I can't imagine anyone working tomorrow with it being Christmas Eve...but...off we'll go.  Maybe only until about noon though.
Steph came by today on their way to their Nelson party.  She dropped off their gifts for tomorrow night, and picked up some sheets and things that I wanted to get rid of.  I thought she could use them in their camp trailer.  She has a full bed, and I still had a couple of sets around.  I told her what she couldn't use to just get rid of.  It's time to start cleaning up some of these closets.  Just because I have room...I've started hoarding...hate it.  I keep thinking I'll do something it with...someday.  But, I think it's time to start purging.  Not only in my craft room, but everywhere.

 

Robin's exchange card and my quilt

This is the card Robin made for the November exchange....is it just darling or what?  I absolutely loved it!  Thanks for participating Robin....January theme...Winter Wonderland.

Okay...so you have seen the front of this quilt when I pieced it, but just look at it now that it's quilted.  Isn't it just beautiful?  I love it!  I know...alot of I love it's.  When I took it to Soda in September, and spread it out for Doris to see, Mom said..."why isn't it even?  You have more flying geese on one side than the other".  It sort of hurt my feelings, because I thought the flying geese were made that way to show movement...I don't think she meant to hurt my feelings...just saying she likes everything even.  But, I just love it.  I used a template that Doris had for the scroll quilting on the long strips, and it worked out very well.  She said at first the ladies didn't think it was going to show up, but it does and the back really looks nice.  What can I say about a sister that is trying to help me accomplish my goal to make a quilt for each grandkid.  I need to get up in the closet and see where I'm at...how many more do I need to beg to have quilted?  I'm starting another top right after Christmas.  In fact, I started laying out fabric this morning.  Yup...Christmas is pretty much under wraps and I'm starting the clean up process.  It sure will be nice to get back to having some order in the house again.  I think Jeff's about had it with all the crap sitting around.
Today is "game day", so I'm in my BSU shirt already.  Hoping the game goes well for them.  I have not had alot of confidence in them this year, but they've actually done fairly well considering they lost soooo many seniors last year.  So...all we can do is hope for the best and cheer them on wildly.  "GO BRONCOS".

Misc.

This was the card that Danelle made for the November exchange.  I thought it was so cute.

I found these little stockings at Michael's, and they were just perfect for gift cards.  That way, they didn't get lost in the shuffle.

For the Pintrest party Janell and Melanie hosted, Danelle planned to make Pumpkin Pie Scrub.  I made these tags with the recipe on them to give out.  We were afraid since the recipe made about 3 cups, that everyone wouldn't get the chance to make it themselves.  After the party, I made a couple batches myself and gave them to the ladies I go visiting teaching to.  They seemed excited to try it.  I still haven't tried it though....it took both batches to fill the jars I had.  Everyone keeps telling me it really works well though.

LED jars- more

Well, this is a little backwards, because I started with the last jars I made and not the first.  As you can see, the last photo is showing the tops of the jars.  I glued a jar ring around the battery.  Then decorated the jars, and put the top on.  They are just the cutest things.  I just loved them all.
Jeff & I went to Twin Falls last night and he bought the only gift he does....mine.  Of course, he let me pick it out, and I'm pretty excited....a new computer!  YES.  I've been having so much trouble with mine, and I'm excited to be getting a new one....but....Windows 8.  Has anyone used it yet?  I wasn't really thrilled about it.  I guess it's supposed to be sort of like Apple...touchscreen.  No start button.  You just type in the first letter of whatever program you want to start....um...there could be a learning curve here.