Told Ya Santa Was Good to Me!

In case you were wondering, we made it safely back to North Carolina. But believe me, there were a few bumps along the way! That will be tomorrows story, but for today...Christmas presents!

Santa was really really reallly good to me this year! Besides all this great stuff, me and Danny also got gift certificates to Disney and The Little Dipper in Wilmington. And I got a Shutterfly gift card! There are also a few things that I couldn't find pictures of...like the coat tree I'm waiting to get in the mail from my hubby and ALL the cute clothes that I can't wait to wear!

What did Santa bring you this year?

Home!

I have returned from the frosty North! Note the bone chilling white ground cover (and the $35 amazing steal Kenneth Cole wool coat I stumbled upon at the most random of stores while there). This is the front of my sister's house...temporary stairs in place until the thaw. A Christmas miracle...my sister actually allowed me to take a photo of her with my nephew... a) yes, we do have the same parents b) she's a photographer and I don't know if I've ever been able to get her in a photo with a smile c) as far as I know she doesn't read my blog so she won't get mad at me for sharing the photo d) yes, her hair is naturally that curly and that color. Naturally when in a deep freeze climate one seeks out gelato... Honey Ginger was the flavor I finally settled on but this only shows about half of the options! Unfortunately the glare on the glass got in the way but they were presented so gorgeously I had to try. Just enough of a layover in Minneapolis on the way home for hubster to pose with a moose... Although it's nice to have snow for Christmas, it was also nice to be home in my own warm bed by Christmas morning. Since returning home I managed to post a few lingering items that came out of the kiln before the trip. These handpainted Zinnia charms... Some stoneware beads... and a funky chunky pendant molded from an ocean stone...
And just for Cindy...the recipe for the amazing white chocolate gingerbread biscotti from my holiday baking spree! (adapted from All Day I Dream About Food) They were definitely a hit and although I primarily made them because of my biscotti loving neighbor friend L, I had to keep my fare share which disappeared promptly!

Gingerbread White Chocolate Biscotti

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp dark molasses
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped dried or candied ginger (I used Trader Joe's version which isn't coated in sugar but a sugared candied ginger would work as well)
1/2 cup slivered almonds

(you could also have extra melted white chocolate if you want to dip your biscotti...I just add the chips to the dough so I can skip a step!)

Preheat oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or my favorite kitchen item ever, a Silpat: DeMarle 2406 Silpat 11-3/4-by-8-1/4-Inch Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, spices and salt. In a larger bowl, beat butter and sugar together until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla and molasses.

Beat in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in white chocolate chips, chopped ginger and almonds. Dough will be stiff and sticky.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Roll each half into a 12-inch log and transfer to prepared baking pan about 3 inches apart. Flatten each log into a 3-inch wide loaf.

Bake until loafs are almost firm to the touch, 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes, but maintain oven temperature.

Carefully transfer one loaf at a time to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, gently saw back and forth to cut loaf crosswise into 3/4 inch slices. Place slices, cut-side down, back onto lined baking sheet. Bake until firm and golden, 8 minutes per side. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Once cooled you could dip one end in extra melted white chocolate and allow to dry on the lined baking sheet.

Christmas Dinner

Christmas dinner was fabulous! Usually we have a bunch of people over, but my Uncle and his family decided to host dinner at their new house too. So, it was just Mom, Dad, Michelle, Danny, my great-grandmother and me. Small....and a lot of food.

For starters I made kibbeh. It is a Lebanese dish that I tried at Danny's grandmothers on Thanksgiving. It is so simple to make and really yummy! We also had shrimp cocktail and some other finger foods.

Then it was time for dinner..and I was already stuffed. We had a huge breakfast at 9 and had dinner at 2. So so so full! Mom made prime rib, turkey....and haddock. For six people..but enough for an army! There was also Mom's awesome stuff, squash, mashed potatoes, cabbage, green beans....and I'm sure I'm leaving something out.

There was so much food leftover...we didn't even remember that Mom made a triffle for dessert! Needless to say, Sunday was a day of picking on leftovers and eating lots of desserts. This vacation has definitely expanded my waistline. UGH!

As you all read this..me, Danny and Miley are trekking through the winter blizzard. I'm crossing my fingers that this 12 hour trip doesn't become a 20 hour trip..because I'm seriously missing my bed!

No Coal This Year!

Christmas celebrations started Christmas Eve for us. We headed down to my aunts for some family, Chinese food and lots of laughs. My aunt ordered enough Chinese food to feed the entire USMC. No lie, there were four boxes of fried rice and at least three boxes of crab rangoon. Totally insane! Apparently there were lots of desserts too...but once the cupcakes came out, the laughs started...and we missed the rest of the desserts. The food coloring was so green that everyone's teeth, lips and tongues were bright green for the rest of the night.

Everyone kept asking where Roxy and Miley were because apparently all the puppy cousins were coming over too. If our two beasts went over it would have been a mad house! There were two other puggles (Bella and Mooch) and a miniture Yorkie (Colbey.) Miley easily outweighs all of them...but she doesn't realize it! But it would have been cute to have a puppy cousin picture...but instead...I just have the humans to show off!

Christmas was so great! Santa was so good to the entire family. I'll show off some gifts later this week...I got lots of good stuff! For now..here are some pictures of Christmas morning!

After presents we spent all morning slaving over the stove, and I just decided that I'm going to do an entire post on food, the pictures are so good they deserve a post to themselves! We had dinner at my parents house and then made the rounds for dessert. We started at my uncles house and ended at my cousin Brian's house. This was definitely a Christmas filled with puppies..we saw the cutest boxer! Oh, and there was even a super cute baby too! This was Lauren's first Christmas and she loved every second of it!

It was a great Christmas! It's snowing like mad up and down the East coast right now...which is getting in our way of getting back to Jacksonville. And I think I'm getting sick (like....hard to breathe and feeling like I'm going to throw up...) Two things I hate: snow and sick. I'm going to spend my (maybe?) last day in Massachusetts wrapped up in a blanket and letting Mom take care of me.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Santa's Helpers

These two spoiled pups are ready for Santa to be here!

The Happiest Time of Year: CHRISMUKKAH!

This year marks the seventh year I have celebrated Chrismukkah. What started as a college joke has turned into a tradition. Me and my Roomie, Ashley, used to tell people she was half Jewish (when in reality, there's no such thing as being half Jewish...it's passed on your mom's side of the family. You either are Jewish or not. Many religion classes taught me that.) Anyway, people started to believe us...and that's how Chrismukkah was born!

Chrismukkah has changed over the years...in college it was a drunk-fest with our college friends. Since we've graduated it's been celebrated at Chinese restaurants with friends we've met along the way. This year even my parents made an appearance at Chrismukkah!

It was so great getting everyone together! I had some college friends, high school friends, even some friends who recently moved back here from Jacksonville. We had such a great time, my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard!

The best part of Chrismukkah was my Dad and sister winning $1300 playing Keno! I wish I had that kind of luck....but that means I would actually have to play the game to win!

Chrismukkah is one of my favorite holiday traditions and I have a feeling it's going to continue for many more years! What's your favorite made-up holiday tradition?

Christmas Party!

It still seems so early to be having a Christmas party. It doesn't even feel like Christmas is only a week away. Am I the only one that feels like that? There is no snow on the ground so it doesn't even feel like the Christmas season. So strange!

Last night we had our first Christmas party (well I guess technically the second, but I don't really count the on base boring "party.") My grandparents always have a big Christmas party with all the cousins...but for some reason this year Nana decided to change tradition. Instead it was just their kids, grandchildren and their spouses. Super small, but still lots of fun!

Danny got the best Christmas present of the night...and probably of the entire Christmas season. It's been an ongoing joke that Danny loves Miley Cyrus (she was even part of our wedding toast and of course our dog is Miley!) Well, my uncle and aunt got Danny a year membership to the Miley Cyrus Fan Club. WAY TOO FUNNY!

I think I'm finally starting to get into the Christmas mood. And today we are decorating our Christmas tree! Now, we just need a little snow so we can have a white Christmas....and so Miley can play in it for the first time!

Free Christmas Cards From Shutterfly

I was starting to get jealous when everyone else was getting free Christmas cards from Shutterfly. I should have noticed that it said for all bloggers! So, I'm jumping at the chance to get Christmas cards from Shutterfly! If Christmas cards are not your thing, how about New Years cards!?

I've used Shutterfly in the past for projects, including our wedding album! And I've even been thinking about wall calendars for Christmas presents! The quality of their pictures is what impresses me the most, they warn you if they know the pictures will come out blurry. I don't know about you, but I don't want to waste money on pictures that don't look right!

These are a few of the cards I'm considering. I'm really hoping our professional picture from the ball is perfect enough to add to it!

I've even been considering getting more professional pictures done for the Christmas cards. I think I have an obsession with pictures!

Bloggers if you want to get in on the 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly sign up here!

LOTS of CHANGES

Oh goodness! What a day it's been! I can decide where to begin! Wow. I've had a lot of things I've been wanting to get done for a long time and I got so much of it done today! Maybe I should just list it...

Cleaning:
1. Kitchen
2. Bedroom
3. Some of the living room

Design:
1. THE BLOG - I'm going for red and green right now in honor of the upcoming holiday - can you tell? LOL
2. I also created and updated both banners and avatars (and on Artfire the color theme) in both my shops.
3. I made the little section headers I wanted to make! You'll see in a minute ;)

Cooking:
1. Breakfast: pancakes and sausage :D Don't worry I really was behaving! I used sugar-free syrup and they were turkey sausages :P
2. Dinner: (breakfast was at lunch time) BBQ Pork loins, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.

Wow - it was a full day! Now on to the things in my shop and and the crafty stuff I got done yesterday!

Wood and Tubes Spirals

These babies are on CLEARANCE!!!!

Pink Delight Bracelet

Wouldn't this be the perfect Christmas present?

Mexican Peso Necklace

This would be perfect to add a bit of travel flair to your

wardrobe - and perfect to wear at Christmas! 

This necklace is a commission for my friend Gypsy :D

If anyone's interested in something similar just let me know! 

I made something else yesterday too - but I didn't like how it turned out :P 

So it's being scrapped and no picture! 

Until tomorrow ~ Ruthie

Best Christmas!

My favorite Christmas present came early. Danny flew into Boston on Christmas Eve. It was amazing. I haven't seen him since the end of November.

Christmas was so great. I got everything I wanted and more! Clothes, house stuff from Anthropologie, and lots of Norman Rockwell stuff! And my sister got us an IKEA gift certificate. LOVE IT! We ate LOTS of food and hungout with the entire family. I loved every minute of it.

Danny found out that there is a huge possibility of him staying at New River. Which I love. I know the area and already have some friends down there. Hopefully we'll know SOON if its really happening. Then I can start applying to schools and find a job. Oh, and a house. A house would be a good thing to have!

We're in Massachusetts for the week. I'm hoping atleast one day will be nice so I can show him the city! SO EXCITED!

A Hand Made Christmas

Before I say anything else - I want to say Merry Christmas to you and yours!

This year at least half (maybe more) of the presents I gave were hand made, and it was so much fun! I still have a few more to give (and finish making lol), but the one's I've given at a party earlier this week, and at my in laws today, made people's faces light up! Its fun when you can see that when you buy them the right present, it's even better when it's something that you've invested your time and energy into!

I don't think I'll ever go totally handmade, some times making people's faces light up requires a visit to the store, but I'm definitely encouraged and excited to do the same thing next year! Ok...with different presents though :P

Did you give any hand made gifts this year? Was it a lot of fun?

Snowflake - The First Attempt

In looking around at blogs lately, and talking to various sellers, I've started thinking about Christmas a little bit. Last night specifically I e-mailed Mom to see if she wanted to make some crocheted snowflakes for the upcoming Christmas season. Well that got me thinking - why can't I make something like that in beads?

I rejected my first idea. I've seen some lovely snowflakes made from wire frames that you simply string the beads on, and sure, I could do that but...

What I really wanted to do was make something that was made from seed beads. I wanted to make something up that was all my own pattern. I wanted to experiment. Here's the first attempt.

Sorry it's a little bit blurry, but my hands are kinda shaky from asthma meds right now. I think my basic principle is sound, but I'm going to make some changes whenever I attempt the next one.

First of all, I want the initial "circle" to be closer in to the center. I also want there to be some "spikes" come out more on the outer rim, and more "lacy bits" in the center...

If that makes any sense to you - kudos!

All in all, I think my first attempt at least looks snowflake-ish, and I learned a lot from the two hour process of fighting with it! What do you think?

"Past all thought of 'if' or 'when' - no use resisting"

To spice things up today - I'm offering you an opportunity for TWO extra entries into my top commentators contest today! The first is the one your used too, just tell me which item below is your favorite and why :) The second... The title of this blog post is a quote from a musical - can you tell me what musical?

Queen of the Crafty ADD

I've told you before that I'm very Crafty ADD. I jump from project to project to project... Anyway - I thought I'd prove it to you guys :P This is what I've been working on the last two days!

What you see above is a hemp bracelet and a beadwoven St. Petersburg Bracelet. I started the bracelet a couple days ago, but I wove about half of it in the last two days. Not that it's a project that takes me very long, I just picked it up for 15 minutes here, and 15 minutes there!

I've also been working on a lot of hemp lately. I have a bunch in my box to take photos of! Things have just been to busy for me to get the photos taken yet though. That and I haven't been feeling that good today. Ok, really not feeling good today. I've spent most of the day watching Star Gate and crafting :D

Mom started teaching me to crochet yesterday! The picture above is of granny squares. I did the first one and started the second one with Mom yesterday, finished the second one last night, and did the third this morning! I'm going to make a baby blanket :D There are going to be 4 more colors in it. Not sure how I'm going to arrange them, just making a bunch of squares and then I'll play with laying them out and see how the inspiration strikes me.

And for anyone getting excited, no, I'm not pregnant :P I'll donate this when it's done. Probably to the Pregnancy Resource Center. It's a local organization that provides free pregnancy tests and provides counseling on the many options out there other than abortion.

Over the last 6 months or so I've started always having a cross-stitch project going. This is the current one! It's going to be a bookmark of dancing penquins. It'll be awhile before it shows up in the shop though. I tend to work on it like crazy for awhile, and then not pick it up at all for awhile :P Plus I'll probably fit 4 bookmarks on the fabric before I cut it up... Anyway, I sewed half of the penquin outline today!

So what's next? Well...I need to make some more strand bracelets to take into my consignment shop...but since that requires moving the bead boxes and stuff around so I can decide on patterns that will probably wait for tomorrow. My asthma's acting up today and I'm doing fine as long a I sit still, but that would probably be too much movement. So I think I'll crochet another granny square and try to decide what my next beadweaving project should be.....

Just a reminder - it's Christmas in July! Follow the links below to check it the sales :)

Kindred Spirit Treasures

Rose Works on Etsy

Rose Works on Artfire

12 Days of Christmas - Part 2

Continuing on from yesterday's post, here's the second half of The 12 Days of Christmas - etsy style!

"On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me - seven swans a swimming..." Isn't this swan incredible? Bellacrochet has incredible talent and she's selling the pattern to make this swan for only $6.95!

"On the eight day of Christmas my true love gave to me - eight maids a milking..." I love the detail on this vintage ornament that smalls4utoo is selling for $15 dollars!

"On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me - nine ladies dancing..." I saw this card by paulapaula and just knew I had to feature it, not only are the ladies adorable in their whimsy, I love the fact that they aren't skinny! *wicked giggle* And only $3 for such fun? That's a steal!

"On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me - ten Lords a leaping..." I'm one of those crazy artists who always loves learning new crafts - and so I love seeing the different "make it yourself" kits that show up on etsy! Isn't this $3.95 card kit by popupcardmaking cute?

"On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me - eleven pipers piping..." Talk about innovative - this piper is painted on an old eyeglass lens!  I don't know where lowercaseg came up with this, but I can't believe it's only $10 for something so detailed!

"On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me - twelve drummers drumming..." Ok, so this drummer is from the "Little Drummer Boy" song...but that's one of my favorite songs...so hey! Who cares right? $65 for this lovely piece by Mysweetpumpkins :)

Thankful for Etsy :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Now, I know, that only counts for those of us in the USA  - but it's still an excellent reminder to be thankful for all the good things in our lives.  I, for one, am extremely for having found www.etsy.com! To give a little back story:

I love jewelry, despite the fact that I grew up a tom-boy! I first learned how to do wire-wrapped jewelry around 10 years ago, and I remember spending hours and hours working making chains of links, and dreaming of someday selling in a craft fair or open market.  I never really thought it would happen though.  At the time I still wasn't very coordinated and it took me a LONG time to make a bracelet or necklace!

Fast forward - time goes on - and I learned some new jewelry techniques and began to seriously dream of selling jewelry.  This was about two years ago.  I wasn't really sure what to do though.  I had some friends and family really encouraging me, but I didn't have any idea how to start!  Plus life was really busy.

Then, about a year ago, I started getting really sick. That's a long story, but the result was that I had a lot of time on my hands where I ended up making jewelry, because it was something I could do sitting still.  After a few months of that, one of my friends introduced me to etsy, and the rest was history!

Ok, not quite, it's been a lot of hard work and I've learned a LOT since I opened up shop in May. It's hard to start making a dent in the jewelry world, because there are a lot of other artists out there, but I have had sales on etsy!

I'm really thankful for having this opportunity, especially since my health problems have continued! I'm also extremely excited, because I know I've learned a lot in the last year about my craft - here's a few of the pieces I'm the most proud of!

I know I have a lot more to learn - but see - that's something else to be thankful for! Because I have another year ahead of me with lots of opportunities to learn new things, expand my business, and make new friends!

Want to know what else I'm thankful for? Check out what I said on my other blogs!

Thankful for friends.
Thankful for family.