All decked out

For Halloween we picked up the most fabulous black glittered skeleton who we dubbed oh so ingeniously Disco Skeleton. We hung Disco Skeleton in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room and when we packed all the other spooky decor away until next year Disco Skeleton escaped our notice and managed to hang out in the same place for over a month. That is until we put the tree up on Saturday and I decided that what Disco Skeleton really really really needed was a change of scenery, a chance to perch precariously at the top of the tree and keep a look out for the jolly red elf and perhaps give a passing nod to the Holly King as he makes room for the Oak King during the Solstice. It does help that Disco Skeleton is super sparkly and he does have the most infectious grin. I'm determined to get him a little Santa hat to help him enjoy the holidays.

This year we've done a mini gingerbread village instead of a house. I'm not sure we'll go this route again next year but the Peanut had lots of fun with them and can't wait to decimate each tiny house.

I'll be posting a post mortem on my first ever sale tomorrow. If you're looking for something different for your tree head on over to PeanutButterPie and check out our ornaments. The sale ends tonight at midnight Pacific Standard Time.

It's Tree Time and other stuff, And hey! Have you checked out my sale yet?

We'll be putting up our tree today, cleaning the living room, putting it together (we have an artificial tree) untangling lights, unpacking decorations and hanging them. It's going to keep us occupied for a good part of the day and there may even be some holiday music involved... the good stuff like The Pogues, The Raveonettes and Aimee Mann.

We've already put together a gingerbread creation this week so our holiday celebrations are well underway. This year we came across a village kit with 5 tiny buildings. We let the Peanut be in charge of decorating them. I'll be posting some pictures soon; before she starts to pick the gum drops and sprinkles off of the roofs and walls. Also on the to do this holiday list is a trip to the Bright Nights train, a ride on the carousel at Burnaby Village and the Lantern festival on the Solstice. Add in a little baking, some crafting with the Peanut and of course gift shopping and we've got a nice full holiday platter lined up.

I'm battling a minor cold with an irritated throat and sinus and various of aches and pains; although I'm pretty sure the aches and pains are from my not shoveling the sidewalks and driveways during the monster snowfall we had the other day. I say not shoveling because I generally pushed the snow off of the sidewalks with very little lifting of snow involved except for the huge pile of snow that is still sitting melting in the rain in our back yard. I know that I'm probably going to hear from some of you about how a pregnant women shouldn't be doing heavy labour like that but, BUT I was having fun, and it really wasn't that hard and AND it kept my blood sugars well under control all day long. The above mentioned aches are good ones and really are almost nearly gone and so is all that snow.

In between tree assembly and decorating I'll be checking in at PeanutButterPie to answer convo's and questions since my Black Friday Sale is still up and running. We've had a record number of visitors to the shop and I'm looking forward to seeing more customers over the rest of the weekend and all day Monday. In case you're just hearing about my sale, all ornament sets in my shop are 15% off of their regular retail price of $60.00 USD. If you haven't had a chance to come by and have a look now's a good time!

How are your holiday preparations coming along?

And We're Off!

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I hope your day is full of the scent of roasting turkey, and the flavours that go along with it.

This weekend was busy for us. We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving at my nieces place with my sister, her partner, her Mom (the Pa's first wife) and my nephew. The meal was lovely, beautifully cooked bird, moist stuffing, creamy smashed potatoes, crunchy salad and some yummy yummy desserts. The company was fantastic and we brought home a portable dishwasher that my niece had sitting in her storage space. No more standing back from the sink so that I can stay comfortable while washing dishes!

Now down to business.
It's official, our new line has been launched; the listings are up! I've Tweeted, I've facebooked, I've started an ad campaign and I'm writing this post.

I have high hopes for this line, and I'm looking forward to seeing how things go. This is my first ad campaign with Project Wonderful. I added an ad box here a while back, firstly to see how the whole process worked and secondly to create some revenue that I could put into my own ad campaigns. We're working on a small budget around here what with the Peanut needing to eat and the Bean putting in her requisition forms for the next 18+ years, so I thought it would be prudent to do things this way. So far my bids are all winning, I'm pleased with the process so far but I'll be honest I'm feeling my way along here.


Click on any of the images here to check out the new listings!

stage five Klingon:

That is what this cold is.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocked off my feet and curled up in an ever growing pile of tissues. That part of the cold ended two weeks ago. I'm a functioning member of the household, but I'm still coughing, still have stuffed sinus and still have an irritated throat. It's getting better, but not quite as fast as I'd like it to.

I've been going stir crazy and the Peanut is stirred up even more. She went to a play date with all her friends and Daddy on Sunday (I stayed home so I wouldn't cough all over everyone) and she cried all the way home because she wanted to go back to play with her friends. So more play dates are called for once I've got this sucker kicked, I'm aiming for sometime this week so that we can make it to the Santa Parade on Sunday.

With the weather sunny and rain free, we'll be heading out of the house more so that I can soak up some Vitamin D. Yesterday the playground, today the garden center to look at holiday decorations. We did the tree and set up the toy train and village on the weekend. Setting everything up and starting to decorate meant that we had to rearrange all the furniture in the living room and then put most of it right back where we started.

How is your holiday prep coming along? do you have special plans?

Decking our halls

As the 25th of November falls in the middle of the week this year, we are decorating our tree today. This is the first year Miranda will help with the decorating. I'm excited about sharing the experience with her and a little nervous about the aftermath.... What if helping to decorate the tree gives her the idea that she can pull on, yank, or knock over the tree at will? It's a very distinct possibility.

I've already started with the pro-active "tell the toddler what's expected" mantra and I'm hoping for the best. I'll keep you posted on how well that's working out. Or if it's a spectacular failure I'll post full descriptions and pictures.

One of our family traditions is to add a new ornament to the tree each year. Because we've decided to do our holidays handmade this year, the new ornament this year is one made by Funktionslust We ordered it last week and it arrived safely in the mail yesterday even prettier in person than it was in the shop. Funktionslust is a fairly new Etsy shop opened in May 2008 and is chock full of lovely glass pieces from abstract sun catchers to gorgeous pendants and earrings.

My personal favourites are Abstract Distraction no.3, Abstract Distraction no.1 and Mossy Pendant and her tree ornaments are little works of whimsy to add to your holiday decor. We'll be treasuring our blue tree ornament for years to come.