Craft Night

Monday night I had the joy of having Tami and Shelly over for a little crafting and a house tour. I'd been wanting to do a project from pinterest for awhile now, so that night it was going to happen! And the fact that we found a leak in the roof the night before and I had no time to prepare anything else!

If you want to see really nice pictures go to Tami's blog here. She took much better pictures than I did!

Tami worked on these beautiful ribbon bedazzled bookmarks, of which I was blessed to receive!!

And got the first letter done in the word PEACE. She is working on this for next year! I'm always working on things from past years!

Shelly found some vintage shorts (hers, and from the 80's!) made of silk and started cutting them into strips. Remember, the 80's shorts were quite long...so she got quite a bit! She's making a fabric/ribbon valence to go in her kitchen. It's looking really pretty!

 This is my pinterest project. Glittered Christmas bulbs. I had seen them on pinterest and thought they looked like fun...not really my style, but fun. The picture doesn't do them justice! They are gorgeous. And sparkly. And really, really fun!

They were so fun, that while it was doing this yesterday...

I decided to do some more!

I save way too much stuff, but in this case I was glad I did! We don't use colored lights anymore, but I still have all the bulbs! I think I did at least a hundred of these!

Mod podge and glitter, and about 30 seconds for each one!

I did a batch for my daughter's room too!

Off to do some wrapping...and a Christmas movie!

SIBS and SILS

Saturday was our 2nd annual Sibs and Sils Christmas and it was so much fun!!! Sibs and Sils stands for siblings and siblings in law. The brothers and sisters get together in the Seattle area for dinner, white elephant exchange, shopping and coffee. It's low stress and high on fun!

Brian was already in Seattle so I took the train down. Can we pause a moment and talk about how fun that was??? Heavenly delight I tell you! Took my book, my ipod , which is LOADED with Christmas music, a snack and some water. Tyler took me to the station and I was on my way. I L.O.V.E.D. taking the train! Had a seat all to myself, the heater on and just a relaxing way to get to Seattle.

This guy reminded me a bit of George Carlin and Ringo Star, from the days of watching Thomas the Tank Engine with my son!

Brian picked me up at the station and we did a little adventure of our own, before meeting the sibs. We went to Northgate Mall for a bit. I forget how much bigger (and nicer) the malls are down there. I worked at Nordstrom at Northgate for over a year, and then off and on for another few years, but I forgot how nice it is!!
After that we went to Molbaks, a greenhouse/gift shop that really does an amazing job for the holidays. I won't put up all the pics from this year, but you can see last year's here. Just a few of the displays...

Got our buy one/get one coffee at Starbucks and the headed out to meet the Sibs!
Because of the weather, we went to Bellevue Square this year. Met for dinner at Ruths Chris Steakhouse. Lots of great food, and it was happy hour so lots of good deals too!

White elephant is always so much fun!!!!

Brad got this awesome Monkey face alarm clock!

 

Brian received this lovely afghan...Lynda will appreciate this!

Meg got a foot warmer/massager...barely used!

I was thrilled with my gift...no joke!!! Some lovely reindeer antlers, a light up necklace, some snow and tinsel, and some lovely window clings, which my SIL promptly stole!

Then I got this in the next package. Sadly, no one stole this!

Melissa was fortunate enough to get the "wonderful and delightful" gift that I so lovingly picked out and wrapped!

Some Bah, Humbug toilet paper...everyone should have some!

And this delightful outfit! She promptly put it on! And then proceeded to "enhance" her figure with the leftover wrapping paper!

 Sorry I don't have a picture of you, Shelly, and I can't remember what you got!

A little shopping, and a little music...

 and then it was time for Snowflake Lane...

Every night through Christmas Eve, a performance is put on outside, complete with falling snow!

A drum line put to Christmas music and tons of lights and decorations!

The drummers line the streets and perform for about 45 minutes...quite the workout!
Snow is falling, Santa and his elves are working the crowd. The buildings across the street have performers in the windows and  a light show is happening on all the surrounding buildings!

Very pretty and festive!

We ended the night at Tully's for coffee and dessert.

We brought some adorable cupcakes...but that's all they were...cute. The cake was good, but the frosting was so Bad!!!! Brad took one bite and his lips looked like this! And, it didn't wash off! We all had red teeth, lips, hands, and clothes, if we happened to touch those!

Another wonderful memory!!

Can't wait til next year!

Folktale's Open House

For all of you who think my blog looks ridiculous...it does! I wanted to try and make my pictures bigger and in the process, I hit a button, never to return to what I had on there before. So frustrating! Can't get the borders back, pics are still the same size, and now I have to pay blogger to blog. It may be time to quit...thinking about it, anyway!

I've had so much fun this past week! Getting together with friends, home tours, open houses, shopping, visits from and with dear friends, bunco...I'm blessed, and really enjoying the holiday season.

My dear friend, Linda, owns a wonderful little shop called Folktales. She was one of my first friends when I moved to Lynden and she shares a special bond with my son, as she has know him since birth and they share a birthday. She had her open house over the weekend, so I thought I'd give you a peek at her wonderful creations!

My other sweet friend, also a Lynda, and I started making this stocking quilt with Linda almost 5 years ago...Linda finished hers right away...I love it! I am still working on mine and so is Lynda. Lots of applique and coordinating of fabrics. I'm hoping to finish this year!!!

She sells patterns and finished products...

fabric and kits, and lots of embellishments...

stitcheries and woolies...

 and does an amazing job on all of her creations!

Her stitching is gorgeous!

And a little hint to my family...any of the featured snowman would love to be in my collection!!

Linda and Lynda...

I just love my friends!! You can see Linda's shop blog here.

 Another dear friend, Liz, from Seabold Vintage Market , had a give away of Folk Magazine last week and I won a copy of the Christmas issue!! I love this magazine. If you haven't read it, you need to! Beautiful photography, lovely articles and a wonderful down-home feel.  You can go to their blog here.

Last night my other friend, Linda S., came over for a nice visit, and today my friends Lydia and Linda K. cam for a visit. (Linda is a very popular name here!)

Such a delightful week!!!

Bethany Chirstian Services Holiday Home Tour

Yesterday was the BCS Holiday Home Tour. Four homes were available for viewing with the ticket proceeds going to Bethany Christian Services. I had never done the tour before so I was excited to see what it was all about!

I must say, I was a little disappointed in the first two homes. While they were lovely homes, they weren't very Christmasy, and the first one wouldn't even let you take pictures...what's up with that??? When I got to the third home, I figured the first home knew there was no competition and didn't want to be embarrassed!!!

(just a note, there are about 75 pictures, so don't give up...just scroll quickly!)

Here's a bit of Home #2~

Aside from a Christmas tree and a few snowmen sitting around, this table was the extent of Christmas. The home was beautiful, but not the decor I expected.

This man resembled Santa, so I guess he could be considered decoration!

House #3 however...Wowsa!!! There are a lot of photos!

This home was out in the country and up a lovely white, fence lined lane.

Note the wreaths on the gates.

 I must admit, there was a little pretending that "we" lived here!!!

The office...

The attention to detail was amazing. There was a touch of Christmas everywhere you looked...greenery in the windows and on the chandeliers, candles, trees, packages, cocoa and cookies, pillows, inside and outside...everywhere. It was stunning!

A bit of the living room...more to come!

The dining room and kitchen...

And dear friends, Tami , and Shelly~

 The laundry room, mud room and a little bathroom...

Another bathroom...

The porches and patios were all adorned too!

 

 A few guest rooms...

And the play room...

 Including Cowboy cookies!

The master bedroom...

 Master bathroom...

And outside sitting area.

Stay with me...almost finished!

The bonus/game room...

If you've detected a Western theme, it's with good reason. The owners of this home are quite accomplished on the rodeo scene...some serious bling here!

 My friend, Ellen, made this adorable tree skirt with some old belts!

The stairs...

And the porch...

Detailed and gorgeous...obviously my favorite home!

Here are a few pics of the last home. It was a little old farmhouse way out in the country. Reminded me of my grammy's house! Steep stairs, pitched roof, low ceilings, but very cozy and very Christmasy!

 

 
Something went wrong with my uploads, but I had to keep this one of the snowmen in the shower!

 

 I really enjoyed this event and can't wait to go next year! Such fun!