Merry Christmas!
I’m going to take a leetle break this week to celebrate the holidays with the cutest almost-one-year-old ever…
and her amazing daddy
Today marks seven years for us! How it’s flown…
Happy Anniversary, Brian! Every day just gets better.
And The Winner Is...
Dum da da dum….
Rachael ! Congratulations, Rachael! I’ll be contacting you today :u)
Actually, we’re really all winners, every one of us! But only Rachael gets the trees. Sorry, that’s just how it works.
Well, this has been a ton of fun for me – I love give-aways! A lot of work, but very rewarding! Hopefully you guys have had fun too. Let’s do this again soon, shall we?
Thanks for playing!
Gift Tags!
I’m placing this note before the rants and gift tag linkies just in case you aren’t interested in such things :u) Just wanted to remind you all that TOMORROW is the last day to enter in my super-cool giveaway! Okay, that’s all. Carry on.
So, you’ve either made or bought all of your Christmas gifts by now, right? RIGHT!!!! (And of course all of the gifts I am giving are all together, neatly wrapped and stacked and organized alphabetically by content…HAHAHA!) Alright, I may be feeling the crunch a bit. I have no idea how some of my friends who have many more children than I do manage to keep anything together, much less keep anything together AND send out Christmas cards. Which, in case you are wondering, we have not done. Bridget’s first Christmas, and we have yet to send out the obligatory baby photo. Should really get on that…
ANYHOW, what was I saying before this became a therapy session? Oh, yes. Gift tags! Your gifts, that you have. They want to be wrapped, and they want cute gift tags! Bella Dia (found through the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog, where they have some tags of their own), has oh-so-thoughtfully put tother a list of some very lovely printable gift tags available out there in blog-land.
Here are some of my favorites from that list:
Quirky (my very favorite, but that’s just how I roll):
A Fanciful Twist
Festive:
Paper Crave
Sublime Stitching
Gift-Wrap It
Sweet:
Creature Comforts
Handmade:
A Fanciful Twist
Sew,Mama,Sew!
“From the Kitchen of”:
LollyChops
And the list goes on! Check the full list out over here .
Now have at it, people! Decorate those packages in style!
Little Tree Giveaway!
Ooooo! I’m such a loser! I totally stood you all up. I promised to have the giveaway ready today, and you can see how that went. On the other hand, it technically is still Thursday, but I doubt any of you are up obsessively checking my website every minute to see if I’ll make the giveaway available.
Better late than never, though (I hope)!
I really did want to post the giveaway first thing this morning – the trees were done and everything. Mostly done, anyhow. I stayed up late last night and finished them (mostly). But, as you can see, the actual giving away…not so much.
Ah, well.
I made these adorable trees are from the Soft Tree pattern so thoughtfully provided by Stephanie (formerly of Little Birds, now residing at her own shop’s blog). This is not available in my own shop as my other giveaway items have been so far, but they are so sweet and festive – they hope you don’t mind.
I will give them away to one lucky person who comments on this post between now and next Wednesday night (I’m so sorry you don’t get as much time to comment this time, but I want them to have time to arrive at their new home in time for Christmas, and even this is pushing it).
This is the last week of my “Month of Giveaways” celebrating my new shop, so make it count! Good luck, all!
Awesome Crafty Blog!
I found an awesome website today when I was calming down after my panic episode. Paint In My Hair is just an awesome name for a crafty blog, don’t you think? Check out the free tutorials on the far left – no, I meant the other left. Okay, on the right. Anyhow, there are some awesome tutorials. I totally want to make the crate covers, and I think the bookplates would make really cute gifts along with a book or two, or just on their own (it printed out weird on my printer until I printed from Adobe Acrobat, and then everything was dandy – but it looked fine on the screen so perhaps it was just my printer showing me who is boss).
Deep Breath. Whew.
Oops! Today was supposed to kick off the last giveaway here at Anna’s Nest. I remembered this late last night (actually, early this morning) around the same time that I realized that I don’t have anything to give away! Double oops!
The plan was that I was going to get some more paper goods up in the shop, maybe some Christmas thank-you note cards or something, and had thought I would surely have them completed by today (with all that time, I was positive I would have finished something). But no. I haven’t even started on them. And by “them” I mean “nothing”. So maybe tomorrow? Is okay with you if I postpone the giveaway until tomorrow? That would be great. You guys are awesome.
Am I the only one that Christmas snuck up on this year? I’m feeling quite overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done before Christmas. We are very excited about Bridget’s first Christmas, and of course I want it to be perfect (or close, anyway!) We don’t even have our tree up, though, and I’ve only managed to drag some boxes of decorations out of the closet. Eek! Brian’s mom is coming to visit on the 27th, and we are having a birthday party for Bridget on the 28th (still haven’t done anything more than think about that one, either – yikes!)
In spite of all of the “to-do’s” that aren’t getting done, I am really enjoying myself. Haha! Maybe there is a connection there, eh? Just a year ago I was consumed with a very different agenda. It’s crazy to think how different life was then and now.
Last year I was late with Christmas, too. For a different reason, though – I was so fat with Bridget that doing anything required a super-human effort (it felt like it, anyway). We were late buying our tree, too – Christmas Eve, baby! Went to Home Depot, where the kind folks there patiently waited as we picked out a tree. They were out of tree stands, though, so we set the base in a large dog water bowl and tied the top to a sturdy ceiling hook. It worked great – you could hardly notice the rope, and we didn’t worry about the tree falling over. And it makes a great story!
I guess the moral of that story is that stuff will get done (and if it doesn’t, well, maybe it wasn’t worth doing – certainly not worth getting crabby over). Now if only I can follow my own advice, and stop freaking…
Thankful [or, Five Kernels of Corn]
Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry I’m so late – it’s been a little crazy here at Casa Warren of late. I thought about skipping straight to Christmas, but that didn’t seem quite right. Also, I have this awesome picture to share.
Bridget enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal very much indeed. The sweet potato casserole especially, but everything was met with enthusiasm. And after the meal, she had two doting aunts waiting on her hand and foot. Quite a hit.
I enjoyed our Thanksgiving, too. One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is the five kernels of corn.
The story goes that at the pilgrim’s first year in the “New World” (you know, the one where everyone almost starved?) the rations were so low that everyone got only five kernels of corn a day. They all probably would have starved if it was not for some kind Native Americans who helped them through that first difficult winter.
The next year was much better; there was a bountiful harvest, and, in celebration, a day of thanksgiving was proclaimed. There was lots of yummy food for everyone, but before they dug in to the feast everyone started out their plates with five kernels of corn, reminding them of the year before and all of God’s provision for them, even when they had so little.
Now, I don’t know if the part about the five kernels is at all true, but to me it doesn’t really matter. It’s the significance of the thought behind it that is important. To emphasize this thought, we start out the meal with five corn kernels on our plates, or in a small dish to the side (it doesn’t have to be five, but it’s a nice number). I’ve always used popcorn kernels. Every person goes around and takes turns saying things for which they are thankful, and putting one kernel into a central dish as they say it. You don’t even have to do it at the beginning of the meal; this year we waited until we got home after the big meal.
I really love this tradition. It may just be my all-time favorite holiday tradition. And I wanted to share it with you all. Things that I’m thankful for this year include my beautiful and amazing Bridget (of course!), my awesome and very supportive hubby Brian, YOU wonderful blog readers and commenters (awwwwwww!), and all of the ways that God has watched over us this past year. There are of course oodles more, but you get the idea :u)
Give-away Winners!
That’s right! I had so much fun, and was so stinkin’ overwhelmed by all the fabulous comments, I’ve decided to pick not one, not two, but THREE winners! Yay! I wish I could give you all a little gift!
So, you ready? You sure?
The magic numbers are 53, 94, and 107! Congratulations to Alia, Georgia, and Jeanna! I’ll be sending you all emails soon.
Alia will receive the Mischievous Garden Gnome Hat, 
and Georgia and Jeanna will receive their choice of either one of my Cow Jumped Over The Moon screen prints, or a $15 gift certificate to my shop. Hooray for giveaways!
If you’re totally bummed that you didn’t get the hat (or the print, for that matter), both items, along with a few other yummies, are available for sale from my shop.
I hope you all enjoy your gifts! Thanks again to everyone who participated! I hope you liked what you found here and in my shop.
I myself found some awesome websites – I think I’ll do a post about some of my favorites once I get myself a little more collected (that is, recover from all the insane clicking of Giveaway Day). :u)
Merry Christmas to all!
Give-Away Day, 2008!
Wow! Would you look at all those comments?! Thanks for all the giveaway love, everyone! Don’t forget to check out my shop, YourNest, for more awesome handmade-by-me stuff! And check back next Wednesday for the last giveaway in my month of giveaways!
Today’s give-away is…
The Mischievous Garden Gnome Hat!
Did those naughty gnomes leave their hats in the garden again?! It looks like maybe this one got caught on the lavender bush…
This hat is so new, I haven’t even had a chance to put it in the shop yet! It’s now in the shop! Check it out here! This was a really fun knit, though, and I’m working on knitting another, so if you don’t win the give-away, you still have a chance to own it!
It is child-sized – it actually fits me (my head is about 24” around), but it’s pretty snug, and would fit a child (probably age 7-12ish) much better. It is 15” in circumference (but very elastic), and 17” long. It is knitted with chunky soft wool yarn in a cheery red paired with multi-colored mohair yarn. The pointed tip is fairly stiff, and adds a quirky air to it – perfect for an individual bursting with personality (and really, what child isn’t?!) – and it is so fun to wear!
For your chance to own it, leave a comment on this post sometimes today, December 3rd Um, I changed my mind. There are just so many lovely giveaways, and so little time to comment. I know I’m not about to get through them all. So today and tomorrow (Thursday). I’ll close comments Thursday night. Sorry, I am not able to do international shipping with this give-away. I changed my mind about this, too – I will ship anywhere that has a regular address! Merry Christmas! :u)
Check out my shop for more cozy things for YourNest, and come back next Wednesday for my final Giveaway in my month of Giveaways!!!
Sew,Mama,Sew! is facilitating Give-Away Day, 2008! Check out their website for other participating blogs, as well as gorgeous fabrics and awesome tutorials!
Weeee Have a Winner!
Congratulations, Rheagan! The atmospheric noise favors you! Thanks to everyone else for playing! There are still two weeks of giveaways to go, so don’t give up now!
I’ll announce the next giveaway on Wednesday (Wednesday’s giveaway will be a one-day only thing, so don’t forget to visit and leave a comment!)
