Happy Holidays!!

"Nantucket Cottage" Tussie Mussie--"sneak" preview.

My entry for "Blue Christmas" at the

City Crafter Challenge!

New "Paris Romance" Tussie Mussie--"sneak preview"

Hi Everyone--

Welcome to our New Orleans home--this is my own little

"Holiday Housewarming." I want to wish you a

Happy Holiday season!

I hope it is a joyous time for you!

Here is a candle I created with a picture of

our home on it with an old-fashioned girl

standing in front of it.

Here is a repurposed box that I made.

And lastly, here is an altered birdhouse created

for Christmas!

I am linking this up to Rednesday!

And because our house is white, I am linking this up

to White Wednesday!

And Outdoor Wednesday!

I am also linking this up to Alter It Monthly where

the theme is "Slide." The picture I used to make the

altered candle is one that shows our home during

a rare snow storm here in New Orleans.

But, if you notice the cookies next to my altered

bird house, I am determined not to "slide" when

it comes to my diet this holiday season!

Also, as promised, I have some brand-new

Tussie Mussies in my Etsy shop--so, if

you'd like to, take a look!

XO

Cindy

Thank you! & Hello December!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my shop during my 'Cyber Monday' Sale! It was a great success, which was really exciting!! I will be having more sales with coupon codes through Etsy very soon since yesterday's went so well! Stay Tuned for more! I hope lots of other Vintage and Etsy sellers had a great Cyber Monday too!


November, You have been a wonderful month! I have really enjoyed the season change, the weather, the leaves and the colors! Now, Hellooo December! For some family reasons, we didn't celebrate Christmas very much last year, and I think we are all ready to make up for it this year! I'm very excited about the whole month of December. Baking, Seeing my Family, Shopping and Wrapping gifts, all the cooking and yummy smells that go with it, and everything else that comes with this time of year! Today we decorated the tree! The cats are already going a little bonkers with excitement, but it's adorable, and we didn't put any breakable ornaments near the bottom of the tree ;)


Who has wacky family holiday traditions? Every year we make it an absolutely point to watch 'Christmas Vacation', and every year we all laugh at the same jokes. I love to hear unique holiday traditions, I think everyone has a couple! We have some that I'm sure are unique to our non traditional family. I love that every family can celebrate the holidays any way they want to. That's what the holidays are all about!

Day 1: 25 Days of Christmas Books

The first of many posts to come featuring some of our favorite Christmas books. The full post can be found on my homeschooling blog.

STV Sketch Spotlight (STVSKSP4)

Happy Tuesday to you all!  I hope this finds you getting into the holiday spirit.  I have done most of my Christmas shopping and just need to pick up a few odds and ends and some stocking stuffers.  What do you put in the stockings of 19 and 23 year old boys?  I have to admit, our holiday gift buying has been pared down over the last few years and that is fine with me.  Now,  don't think I have gone Bah Humbug or anything because I do love Christmas but I do think the whole gift thing has gotten out of hand a bit.  I can't imagine what my boys would say if I put an apple/orange in their stockings like I got when I was a kid.  Oh, maybe I should try it and have the camera ready for the priceless look on their faces....LOL 

The card I am sharing with you today was created for this weeks sketch challenge over at StampTV.

The image and sentiment are from the GKD Light of the Season set.  I colored the image in with Copics and then went over most of it with Spica glitter pens.  I did the same for the little heart on the sentiment panel.  The base card was embossed with the cuttlebug and disressed to give it an old worn look.  The image and gold panels were cut out with the Spellbinders Labels 14 dies.  A little ribbon and some flowers and I called it good!

Remember, there is a new sketch and video every Monday on StampTV.  If you play along you could win free stamps.  Come and join the fun!  Thanks for stopping by for a visit, I really appreciate each and everyone of you whether you just pop in and take a look at my latest creation or you take a moment and leave me a comment.  I love you all the same!

Stamps:  Light of the Season-GKD

Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa

Paper:  PL Ivory-GKD, Golden Double Dot-Bo Bunny

Extras:  Copics, Labels 14 dies, Spica glitter pens, ribbon, flowers, buttons, Cuttlebug EF

Hugs,

Romance for the Holidays!

Two great holiday romances from two fabulous authors I am proud to call my friends!

Miracle Baby by Laura Bradford

Synopsis:

Maggie Monroe stopped looking for magic ten months, twenty-two days and eight hours ago. Maybe it's his gift for fixing things. Or maybe it's because Rory's known Maggie is the woman for him since the day they met. But he seems intent on bringing the Christmas spirit back into the grieving widow's life…starting with a unique holiday surprise.

 Try as she might,  Maggie's finding it awfully hard to resist a man as persistent—and appealing—as Rory. Hired to restore her uncle's century-old inn, the Michigan carpenter has taken her on as another task. With his faith and love, can she help along that special miracle only two can create?

My Thoughts:

Laura Bradford has quickly established herself as one of the brightest, up and coming romance authors this year. Her stories are always heart-warming and sincere. "Miracle Baby" is no exception - this is a charming love story that will pull on your heartstrings but with just enough sensuality to make it an exciting read!

It Started With A House by Helen R. Myers

Synopsis:

It's the kind of house widowed real estate agent Genevieve Gale once dreamed about for herself. Instead she handpicked it for the Roarks, a married couple. But by the time handsome millionaire Marshall Roark moved in, he was a widower. And when he sought comfort in Genevieve's arms, she offered him everything she had, expecting nothing in return.
 
Even after discovering she was expecting his child.

Marshall immediately proposed marriage—out of obligation, she was sure. And though she didn't want him to "have to" marry her, she did long to say yes. To the man she now loved. And to turn the house she'd coveted into the home she longed for.

My Thoughts:

I have been privileged to call Helen Myers a friend for many years, and her writing never fails to amaze me. Whether she is writing the creepiest suspense drama or the sweetest love story, Helen always pours 100 % into her work and her readers are always the lucky receipients of her labors. Set in the Piney Woods of East Texas, "It Started With A House" is one of Helen's best recent works, filled with romance, a little drama and a whole lot of holiday spirit in the end!  Classic, romantic fun!


Both of these books are from my private collection.

I made another frappuccino bottle using one of my new Impression Obsession stamps.  I paper-pieced the base of the water globe & stamped the image after coloring it with my markers.  I then used frosted lace & icicle Stickles to add "snow" to the globe.

 

 

Supplies:
Papers - BG
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Pens - Marvy markers
Embellishments - Ribbon from Stash, Stickles, BG brad, 
Tools - Fiskars border punch, SU punch, Nestabilities (petite ovals), Paper Studio punches (scalloped circle & circle)

I'M OK! Mini First Aid Set Review & Giveaway

You often hear me talk about my little princesses being little diva, dancing ballerina's, but news flash, they are active little monkeys who like to wrestle with the dog, jump, climb, run, skip, slide and swing. And with those crazy activities comes bumps, scrapes and scratches. We have all been in the position at the park where your child falls and gets an owie and you are left standing there looking like a horrible parent because you have absolutely nothing to wipe up the blood, let along clean out all the rocks and dirt. Let's face it, the average Mama doesn't carry around a big 'ol first aid kit on a quick spur of the moment trip to the park.

Well, I have discovered an incredible solution, the Kabalab's Mini First Aid Kit. No more worries when you're out and about with your children and an accident occurs. This Mini First Aid Kit contains all the basic essentials to treat small injuries and the best part is, it fits easily into your pocket or purse, so you can conveniently carry it anywhere you go. The I'M OK Pocket Kit includes the patented pocket case, emergency information card, 8 I'M OK! bandages and 2 non-sting antiseptic swabs. (shown above)

My daughters love the bright colors of the band aids and the encouraging words, "I'M OK" written on them. Being able to put a pretty pink princess band aid on an owie, is huge to a little girl. It most definitely takes their minds off the pain (at least a little bit).

I especially like the emergency info card. Alexa is at an age where she is getting more active with her friends, play dates, birthday parties and whatnot and it's comforting to me to know that she has the little emergency card in her pocket, with her picture on it and all the important medical information and contacts.
Alexa has found a way to use the adorable little I'M OK! pink princess cold pack nearly every day since we received it in the mail. A bump here, a bruise there..the kid is prone to accidents. She knows right where the cold pack is in the freezer and puts it back when she's OK. It's so nice in that it takes just a few minutes for the cold pack to get cold. It offers quick relief to her owie's and will come in handy in the summer with those nasty mosquito bites.



The I'M OK! Set is a must have for families with an active lifestyle. With it's small size, it fits inside your pants pocket, jacket pocket or purse.

Refills for the pocket kit are available as well, so you can be sure to keep them fully stocked for those unexpected injuries. The I'M OK! refill kit includes 16 I'M OK! bandages and 4 non-sting antiseptic swabs.
Each set comes in 4 different colors to suit each of your child's liking. Pirate Blue, Teddy Bear Orange, Princess Pink and International Green.

GIVEAWAY:

One lucky Mom-a-Logues reader will receive their choice of the pink, orange or blue I'M OK! Set.

Manditory Entry:

*Please include email address with each entry*

1.) Visit Kabalab and tell me something you learned.

Extra Entries:

1.) Follow Mom-a-Logues via GFC.

2.) Follow Mom-a-Logues on Facebook. (3 entries)

3.) Enter another one of my giveaways - tell me which one you entered. (3 entries)

4.) Facebook this giveaway (3 entries)

5.) Blog about this giveaway and leave the link (10 entries)


Giveaway ends 12/11/10 at 9pm cst. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be selected. Winner will be chosen via random.org. Good Luck!

{Disclaimer: I received the I'M OK! Set for this review. No other monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own.}

In Between: Pebbles, Books, Life and Giveaway

Just a little filler, just whiling away my days

Today I took a break with the makeup since Mummy woke me up saying we needed to take our 14-year old cat, Pebbles, to the vet. Pebbles hasn't been eating lately nor has she been drinking water so we're naturally worried as she has been really weak. We went to the vet yesterday and Pebbles got a booster that was meant to stimulate her appetite but it did little to motivate her to eat and this morning Mummy was worried as it seemed as though Pebbles was wobbly and unable to move much without collapsing in exhaustion.



So we took her to the vet and she got a saline and then a glucose drip. It was good to see her eyes become less glazed and to see her looking more lively after a while. There were some dogs at the vets and I had to endure a poor puppy howling in pain behind me while he got stitched up ): Apparently his owners had unknowingly overdosed him on antibiotics after a pharmacist had instructed them to give three tablets when it should have only been two. The poor thing had fits and has some brain damage! It was lucky the owners got him to the vet in time.

We have to take Pebbles to the vet tomorrow and probably the day after as well for more saline and glucose. Hopefully it'll give her a little more time. We know that she's rather old and it's rare for cats to make it so long but we're hoping we get a little bit more time with her. She's such a tough old thing, I'm glad I'm home now and get some time with her; I don't know when I'll be home next.

Anyway, I'm exited because later today after an appointment at the dentist (yay for not having to take my wisdom teeth out until later!) we went to a bookstore to find the sequel to Lauren Kate's book Falling, Torment only to find two L.J. Smith books that I never thought I'd get to read in this lifetime! I'll probably finish them both in the next few days so I'll do a review then!

Life otherwise?
Tiring. My birthday is in two days (on the 3rd) and I'm really starting to feel my age (which I won't discuss: it's unladylike to talk numbers!). My whole body is sore and aching and I'm starting to worry now, I think I'm going to do more exercise like Pilates and just general cardio. I really don't want health complications...

That's all for now dear Readers, thank you to my 10 followers! I was thinking the other day that if I reached 10 followers I'd do a giveaway and I honestly thought that it would only be when the moon turns to cheese that I'd get a 10th follower (Thank you!) sooo...watch this space? It'll only happen when I return to Adelaide so that'll be in January 2011 but still, it'll happen! (:

It's NOT Over yet!!

I'm pretty sure it's still MONDAY out in California, so you STILL HAVE TIME to get in on the S.S.Vintage CYBER MONDAY Sale!

More than two hours of shopping time left! And TONS of Unique Vintage left in my shop to choose from!



25% Off EVERY ITEM In the Shop!!
When checking out, just use the Etsy Coupon Code "CYBERMONDAY" for your discount!

Shop The S.S.Vintage!

A few random photos from the Thanksgiving weekend...

Alexa and Lillian enjoyed eating their cereal in the living room while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. They loved it, but wished they showed more of the parade than the boring interviews.

Grandma Linda did most (ok, all) of the cooking and baking for Thanksgiving dinner, but Alexa, Lillian and I put our aprons on and pretended that we were helping. :)
Alexa and Lillian ready to EAT!!

Grandma Linda and I took the girls to the movie Tangled Thanksgiving afternoon.

What a darling movie. We had so much fun and the girls managed to stay awake during the whole movie.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the Rambling River Center in Farmington to see the model trains, decorate twinkie trains an get a visit from Santa.

Auntie Andrea and Alexa constructing their twinkie train.

Grandpa Juan thought he was pretty smart doing a search a word puzzle. I still finished mine quicker than you Juan. haha

Auntie Andrea and her Mini Me!!

Toothless Alexa and her twinkie train.

Alexa and I!!

Alexa telling Santa she wanted her one front tooth for Christmas.

Lillian just wanted to look at Santa. She didn't want to talk to him or sit on his lap. But, I caught her sneaking a little touch of his soft red jacket.

Cute picture of Alexa, not so flattering shot of Santa...

After all the fun at the community center - we did a little shopping in downtown Farmington.

We stopped at a second hand store that had all Christmas items 50% off.

Adam found this lovely holiday sweater. Thankfully, he passed on actually purchasing it. :)

I tried convincing him that he looked HOT in this hat, but he didn't believe me.

He's all mine ladies.......all mine!!!!

Gratitude Giveaway Winners!

Using Random.org, I have drawn the names for the winners of my Gratitude Giveaway!  They are:

Justpeachy36 - The Pumpkin Muffin Murder


Audrey - Don't Sing At The Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers


Julie@ Knitting and Sundries - Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter


The Winners have been contacted via email.

I'd like to thank everyone who entered this giveaway, both old and new followers!  I appreciate you following my blog!

Don't forget, I still have the CSN Stores $100 gift certificate giveaway going on until December 5th, plus the special giveaway for my 400th GFC Follower!  Click on the buttons on the sidebar for more info on these two giveaways!

Happy Reading, Ya'll!

Elegant Tussie Mussies

Hi Everyone--

I have just completed these large themed Tussie Mussies

for Christmas. The first one features a bird's

nest and can actually be used all year round to

decorate a home.

There is a Swedish tradition of putting a bird's

nest in a Christmas tree to bring good health

and luck in the coming year. So, it could also

be used to decorate a tree, although it might

work best if it was nestled in the branches

as it is too large to be an ornament. It can

also be placed anywhere in a home for

added ambiance.

This "Seaside Dreams" was created to enhance a

seaside cottage home. It contains exquisite shells,

faux pearls, and a miniature corked bottle with

sand inside. Perfect for a nautical motif where

"dreamy" is the catch of the day!

I just placed them in my Etsy shop--and there is

a large decorator tag with purchase with each one

--in honor of Cyber Monday!

Oops--these just sold, so I am going to make

more with these and more themes!

Linking this up to The Essential Beachcomber!

XO

Cindy

Say CHEESE!!

We call her, Toothless!

Right before we were heading out to the Rambling River Center in Farmington on Saturday to see the model trains and get a visit from Santa, Alexa called me into the bathroom and very calmly said that she couldn't finish her breakfast because her tooth was going to fall out. I took a look in her mouth and sure enough, one of her top middle teeth was bleeding.

I got her a napkin and the thing bled like crazy. She looked in the mirror and wiggled and wiggled and wiggled it some more. She gave it one little tug and out it came.

We were all so proud of her for pulling it out all by herself. I can't believe she has lost 4 teeth already. 3 on the bottom and 1 on the top. The tooth fairy gave her 4 dollars!! Yay!

*****

Friday afternoon, we all went into the clinic for our flu shots. We were hoping they had the nazal mist for the girls, but unfortunatley they were out. Alexa shivered and turned white with panic, having to get the shot, but we assured her it was going to be very painless. Adam went first, then me and then Alexa proceeded to throw herself into an uncontrollable fit. "It's gonna HUUUURT...NOOOO....PPLEEASEEE...DOOOON'T!!!" She had to get hers in the thigh, which was a bit of a struggle trying to get her pants off when she was grabbing on to Adam for dear life and kicking the nurse away from her. Finally we got her pants down, and laid her on the bed..we counted to 3 and it was done. She sat up, smiled and said.."That didn't hurt at all." LOL We all just laughed. Her fit made Lillian scared of course, so she began to panic knowing she was next. It was easier to hold her down tho and she cried until the nurse said the word "sticker". Stickers will make anything feel better to a toddler.

Lillian also needed her 3 year check up. This was the first time she saw her new pediatrician, whom we absolutley love. Lillian is in the 40th percentile for her weight and 60th for her height. She is a tiny peanut for her height, which is funny cuz she still has her baby belly.

She is as healthy as can be and right on track for being 3! (that rhymned..haha)

******

Yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day. Temp's in the 40's!! It was just warm enough to melt a some of the snow and allowed Adam to get outside and hang our Christmas lights. We were worried that due to our huge early snowfall that we might not get them up this year. But, the kids begged and Adam was determined. He spent all afternoon working on it and they turned out fabulous. We took the girls around last night in the neighborhood to see some of the other houses adorned with lights. They were sooo excited and ooohed and aaahed at everthing. If only we could just bottle up all that excitment. Our little girls bring us so much joy. We are so blessed.

We didn't get our tree up or inside decorations put up yet, but we're excited to turn on some Christmas carols, drink some hot chocolate and put up our 3 Christmas trees this weekend.

Suki Challenge: Cerberus vs. Coffins and Killer Bees

I like it rough

(I kind of look like I've come out of a horror movie...)

Today was insanely hot and I was unprepared for the heat! I've forgotten how humid it can be over here in Sri Lanka. In comparison, Adelaide's summer heat is more dry than humid. I don't know which I prefer to be honest: scalding sun or sweaty days?

Anyway, since I had errands to run today I thought I'd go for a darker look and wondered how different Cerberus and another Evil Shades shadow, Coffins, would be from one another. Coffins is considerably lighter, in the jar, swatched, in person but not in photos evidently.

To also make the look more suitable for sunny Colombo (and judgmental locals) I added She Space's Killer Bees as my water line color which completed the look in my opinion.

My verdict? I quite like them together but I don't think Coffins manages to stand out more than Cerberus. They're more like amicable companions. Coffins could easily be one of Cerberus' three heads. I wonder who the third head would be...?

There I go again, storytelling. I say this is a draw.

Cerberus 4       Opponent 2