Happy New Year!

Wishing this new year will bring you an abundance of
laughter, happiness, and love!

XOXO

Country roads, take me home.

Home after a fantastic week long full of family, friends, good food, shopping, gifts, and good food. My stomach is so full and content with my dad's cooking, I am all sweeted out with sweets, and I am definitely all shopped out (Yes, I was one of those crazy people out there on boxing day). Speaking of shopping, I had no idea that they opened an Anthropologie at West Edmonton Mall. I was so overly happy and excited when I saw the store that I called Darcy on my cell phone. It's very rare where I find a store that I love everything in it. Especially clothes. Now I just got to save up because I am totally in love with this.

(Through-The-Lens Coat ~ Anthropologie)

Ho, ho, ho-lidays!

Yesterday I had a baking palooza and the house smelled so wonderfully good.
Today, packaging up those baked goodies, cleaning the house, a cookie swap party, and tomorrow we will head off to Edmonton for the holidays!

So let the holidays begin!

That'll do, pig. That'll do

The handmade bolero sweater for my mom this year.

You probably noticed that it's not the same color yarn as shown previously here. That's because I got really frustrated with that pattern and time was ticking down too fast to Christmas. So I decided to put it aside, take a deep breath, not freak out, and go to plan B.

I found this really simple crochet bolero pattern at the Lion Brand Yarn site. So simple I made it in two days. It's cute and perfect for my hip mom. After the holidays I will go back to working on that original sweater I had planned to make. I will not be defeated! (pointing fist at pattern)

On another note. Thanks for all the love I've been getting for my Christmas gift tags from last year. Wonderful comments from wonderful peeps!

Love those Masons.

One of the best thing about living out here in the country is you get gifts like these. Canned pasta sauce, apple juice, peaches, pickles. Yum!

There's something special about mason jars and did you know some of them, according to wiki, can fetch up to $30,000? Better start saving those jars!

Frozen

For those that are wondering what -40°c with a wind chill feels like...

It's damn COLD!!

This weekend all we did was stay indoors, drink warm liquids, listen to Yann Tiersen (he composed La Valse D'Amelie, from Amelie), watch DVDs, bake bread, and played. It was a fantastic weekend!

The boys thought this was the greatest thing.

Frozen condensation on their bedroom window.

The little joys of winter! and maybe we should look into getting better windows?!!

Also, I'm so excited to announce that I'll be doing another crafty craft session at the Thrive! Naturally Diva Day in this coming January. Come join us!!

Printable Hot Cocoa Envelopes

So FINALLY a printable. Yes, it's been a while. I really wanted to post this printable before Christmas. I think it would be perfect for gift baskets or with some nice mug sets. Fill the envelopes with your favorite Cocoa Mix. I used this Classic Cocoa Recipe last year and it's Oh so very delicious!

Download the hot cocoa envelopes here, or here.

Cut brown packaging paper into 8.5 x 11 sheets to fit into your printer. Set your printer to "fit to printable area" and print.

Cut along the outer lines of each envelopes

Fold and unfold these lines marked by the arrows in this photo.

Place glue on the two side tabs. Make sure you use non-toxic glue.

Fold the top part down towards the gluey tabs. Press firmly to secure.

On the back write your little message.

Place glue on the top glue part.

Fill the envelopes with cocoa mix enough to make one cup of hot cocoa.

Press the top flap down and press firmly to close and secure.
(Gosh, My skin is disgustingly dry in this photo! Winter and my skin don't mix)

And voila! Enjoy!!

*All printables are for personal, non-commercial use only.*

hdc2tog, hdc2tog, hdc2tog...

Feels like I have been really neglecting my blog lately. Just been so darn busy trying too make to many things before Christmas. Right now I'm in the middle of making my mom her Christmas gift. I had the hardest time understanding this pattern correctly which I started over again and again and again, until I realized my problem was not doing the hdc2tog correctly. Ugh! That damn hdc2tog, shame on you!!


Besides making gifts, I've been busy sewing some yoga bags for Thrive Naturally. I should change my description right now "Crocheter by day, sewer by night". Did you ever realize that sewer(one that does sewing) and sewer(the pipes were our poop and pee goes) are spelt the same? Hahaha!

It is super gorgeous outside with all the winter frost. Time to take a breather.