Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!!  

I have mentioned my family's tradition of making the craziest Christmas cookies known to human-kind... I thought it was time to share the photos which bear witness to our insanity!  We begin with homemade sugar cookies, several colors of frosting, sprinkles, etc.  This is a fun family event and while quite hysterical, note the serious faces as the cookies are created.

Edwards children hard at work on their masterpieces!  Aaron (far right) and Ian (center) each had a plan.  Bethany was creative on the fly!

Crissie joined us this year and while she enjoyed the decorating, I am sure she was overwhelmed by the creative insanity around her.

 Doug's cookies were fabulous, but he too has on his "game face" for crazy cookie seriousness!

Doug and my cookies together.  I want to be sure you know that I DID NOT make that bikini clad snow-woman!  I did however create the snowman in the alps outfit. 

Aaron sharing his masterpiece - Two Face (Harvey Dent) from Batman!

Ian sharing one of his ZZ-Top characters!  His ZZ Top guys were great!

Bethany working on her gamer-boy.  See the first photo for a cute close up of the headphone wearing gamer cookie.

Ian's cookies included ZZ-Top, an Alice Cooper tree, Darth Vader, a candy CANE, an exploding star, and a wild tree.

Aaron's cookies included Two Face, Venom (from Spiderman), Spiderman, a cane, Batman snowflake, a vampire snow head, and a mean tree.  I love the mean tree! 

One other tradition, whether intentional or not, is that we tend to eat our least favorite cookies first.  Several of the lesser cookies are gone, but the more fun ones live on!

I wish you much happiness and joy today and in the new year - whether that includes crazy cookies, time with family, paper crafting, or quite reflection!

Baking day treat box

Today was the first of two Christmas baking days at our home.  I started old fashioned over night yeast rolls that will be baked on Thursday morning (and they are heavenly), magic bars, and tea balls.  I had hoped to finish more baking but my older son and his lovely girlfriend arrived mid afternoon to visit for a few days.

I was thrilled to see Aaron and Crissie, but especially Crissie.  This is going to be a horrid holiday season for her and I knew she would need lots of hugs.  Crissie's father passed away unexpectedly last Monday (the 13th) and she is still in shock. Also her mom is too hurt to even consider Christmas at their home so I know this is the closest to real Christmas as she will get this year.

I have several things planned to keep Crissie busy, but also lots of quiet time so that she can talk.  Tomorrow (or is that later today?) we plan to have the annual cut out cookie decorating event.  It is an activity that we all enjoy - decorating the cut out cookies as crazy and funny as we can make them!  (I will post photos later in the week).  Tonight we went out for a lovely dinner at a nice restaurant followed by a short shopping trip.  Later Crissie and I talked for about two hours.  Tomorrow she will be helping me bake as well as seeing a bit more of the Aiken and meeting more of Aaron's old friends who are also home for the holidays.

In the meantime, I mentioned at the beginning of this post that today was day one of two baking days.  I am making the rolls to share with neighbors (in the decorated paint cans I posted recently), as well as a few friends.  I knew I would need a couple of small treat contains for our single neighbors.

I used the popcorn box from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More to cut my base box.  I welded the scallop from Plantin Schoolbook together in a pattern similar to the the angle of the popcorn box.  This allowed the cut scalloped trim to fit the popcorn box nicely.   I also made a matching flat strip to wrap the middle of the trim.

I cut a layered snowflake from Accent Essentials and tied it on to the corner of the box.  I added layered prima flowers in the corner as well.  I finished the popcorn box with holly peelies and green tissue.  I will be adding treats and a handmade card before delivering the box to my neighbor!

Hopefully I will be back tomorrow with photos of this annual crazy cut outs adventure to share!

Festive Gift Card Holders Revisited and a Winner!

Happy Friday everyone.  We have a winner for the Custom Crops $50.00 gift voucher.  I put all of the comment from both of my blogs together and chose random number 33 as the winner.  CONGRATULATIONS TO:

Debra (who) said...

Beautiful cake! It's WW for me after the first of the year! My favorite cake is German Chocolate. I am a sucker for that sweet chocolate, pecans, and coconut.

Debra I left a message on your blog with the details I will need for you to claim your prize!

Yesterday was a very busy day which followed a night of not nearly enough sleep.  I went to bed far too late (I was caught up in the book I am reading) and for some unknown reason I woke up four hours later.  I could not go back to sleep so finally after an hour of tossing I got up.  The good news in this was my husband and I left early for our trek to Atlanta to bring Ian home for the holidays.  Of course after my four hours of sleep, I took an hour nap on each leg of the journey!  And after dinner I needed yet one more nap to see me through the evening and that left me with a NO crafting day.  

But a no crafting day just means we have an opportunity to revisit a great project from the past.....

Jody P of the Cricut Message Board shared her lovely cut files for Gift Card holders. Her designs were inspired by something she saw in an old issue of Paper Crafts Magazine, though I believe she expanded the idea as there are three designs in her cut files. I used Basic Grey Wassail Christmas paper, ribbon, pearl embellishments, and glaze stickles to make two of Jody's ornament design.

I would have loved to have been able to link back to Jody, but alas I have lost that link.  Jody if you read this PLEASE shoot me an email so that I can give you the credit (and link) that you deserve for this FABULOUS cut file.  

I will be back tomorrow to share my monthly project for Everyday Cricut.... It is a fun and festive holiday must see.....