Kicking off Christmas

Ashley and Kirsten below totally freaking out over the hotel room view in NYC on Thanksgiving weekend. The Macy's Parade and Thanksgiving with my sisters was a huge part of our Christmas kick-off. Just spending a few moments to remind anyone who may venture here to take care of yourself this Christmas season. Generally if you're reading this, it's because you are a girly girl who likes to play with art supplies and skews towards vintage, eclectic style, but all are welcome!

But...if you are a girly girl, you may also be the one in charge of Christmas in your home. That may also mean you get what amounts to a third full time job for the month of December, sometimes stretching into January. So, take the time to care for yourself. You know the saying, if Mrs. Claus ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! (or something like that, but it's true)

If you do get some time to take a few moments to yourself to play with art supplies or make heartfelt gifts for your loved ones and friends, check these links out for great ideas, tutorials and more:

One Pretty Thing ~tons of links to tutorials for everything under the sun, you could get lost for hours here

Little Pink Studio ~if you're into vintage chic, Cerri will show you the way

The Graphics Fairy ~loads of vintage images to download for creating to your hearts content

If you're in the mood for guided Christmas creating, check out these workshops or tutorials:

Teresa McFayden ~offering her 5th annual Christmas e-course

I'm Just a girl ~Spark your Christmas workship with a big emphasis on transforming what you already own. You know I'm a green, tree-hugger, so this speaks to me.

christytomlinson: 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas.. a mini workshop ~12 different talented artists will guide you through not only ornaments, but also home decor and gifts as well.

Tim Holtz ~I think this is Tim's 5th year of his 12 Tags of Christmas. Free for you to enjoy, duplicate or use for inspiration. You'll learn lots of new tips here too!

Through December, if you like, keep checking back to the Granny Panty Chic blog for more Christmas ideas and (hopefully) inspiration. I'll admit, I get totally giddy over this month. It's just gotta spill somewhere and it's gonna be here I decided. ;-)

How time has flown by

Today is my oldest child's birthday. My little cuddle bug with the big giggle and even bigger sense of adventure is...a man. (and yet, I mysteriously remain forever young!)

I can tell you this; I have a friend who says "Little children, little problems. Big children, big problems." It's true. When you are in the midst of colic and diaper rash and potty training, it can be truly, mind-numbingly exhausting. When your teenager comes to you after some incredibly bad decision and is facing extreme consequences, it is true that when they're heart breaks, your heart breaks right along with them.

We can't dwell on the valleys because the moutaintops are numerous and rewarding and life is a terrifying, wonderful thing.

Cliches are grounded in truth. The cliche that they grow up before you know it is absolutely true. Oh, to redeem the time wasted when I was 'too busy' or 'too tired' as he grew up, but I am trying to choose to treasure all the moments, the milestones and the memories.

Zach is a guy's guy, so I made him a pretty simple, but bright card.

One of his little secrets is that he loves flowers and gardens. He won't tell you, but it's easy to observe. When he was younger and we lived in a townhouse, we built some raised flowerbeds. I bought loads of perennials and annuals. He is the one who arranged how they were planted. When he badly hurt his knee and realized he was a horrible patient at home, he asked his dad to help him shop for a rose bush as an apology. He walks around the yard smelling flowers and brushing his hand over herbs and he takes an active interest in the vegetable beds, but his big request is to plant watermelons. So, a little spring bouquet for him. How appropriate that the world is coming awake as his birthday arrives.

And this is super late, but last week Opus Gluei had a challenge to use material in a project. I have an older friend who is extremely ill and I know that she loves flowers, so this little embellished burlap bag will hold a tiny bud vase and several tiny daffodils. Hope she likes it!

It ain't pretty, but it's home

I love spring! Now, if only spring weather loved me. Can you believe there is a wintry mix in the forecast for tomorrow?!? Nevertheless, some early spring can't wait for me to be having a comfy 'jeans and t-shirt weather' day. They need to go in now if we want to enjoy later. So, already planted last fall were 2 varieties of garlic. Nom, nom, nom, not only tasty, but protects us from vampires and people who invade our personal bubble. I also transplanted a few dozen strawberry plants into a new bed. It was time. The asparagus bed is well established. I was so very excited when it started sending up a few tender shoots last week. I even steamed a few. Spring weather being what it is though, we've had some frosts that have halted those messengers of spring for another week or two, so my little asparagus feast was premature.

This spring, I've got more beds to work with thanks to some very hard work on the part of the youth missions team doing a work-study project and to a few intensive weekends of work for Tim and I. Last week I started the early spring planting by putting in a few different types of lettuces and seeding Swiss Chard. This past Saturday, when we had a surprisingly nice day, I hurried to spend a little time planting kale, cauliflour, broccoli, shallots, spinach, onions and spring peas.

We have an inquisitively nosy neighbor who pointed out that we were supposed to get snow that night and all of my plants would probably die. I was also warned that both spinach and kale contain chemicals that inhibit the absorption of calcium. I planted anyway; sure the babies would survive since they'd been hardening off on the front porch through a few frosts anyway and don't worry about kale or spinach. You'd have to eat a bucketload at a time to worry about calcium absorption and cooking them even briefly deactivates the calcium hindering chemical.

I let him boss me around a bit and send him off with fresh eggs (but not before he tells me how I should grow flax to feed to the chickens raising their Omega-3 levels) before he goes on his way. :)

All of the plants don't look so hot right now because until they are a bit larger, we have to protect them from Peter Cottontail and his voraciously hungry family members. It's so disheartening to put in several hours planting a garden, anticipating the harvest, going to sleep feeling you've done a good turn for the earth and your local food system only to wake up and discover your freshly planted garden has been mowed down by killer bunnies. It's ain't pretty, but the coffee cans and old pots work as a barrier.

But, there are signs of a beautiful spring...in new baby chicks...and old stands of sunny daffodils.

Speaking of spring crops, if you garden, this year consider planting extra to donate to your local food bank. In the mid-90s, a group of gardeners founded Plant a Row for the Hungry to do just that. Some news sources say a recovery is well under way, but in my area, local food banks have seen a large increase of families in need of assistance. What better way to help out than with homegrown produce?

That 70's Chair

After a wonderfully amazing weekend at a youth worker's conference in Chicago with 3000 other crazy people, tim and I decided we really need a night of pure, unabashed retail therapy...at Goodwill.

Yes, the Goodwill you donate your old toasters and ugly Christmas sweaters to. :)

We went to the store nearest our home where there was nothin' good to be seen...until we went over to the furniture side. There I saw, sat and briefly noted a chair and then dismissed the idea of it. I couldn't find the price tag and since I was pretty sure that didn't mean the chair was free (always a faint hope, right?), I passed and we went on to the next store.

Tim was incredibly upset to find the most deliciously soft, supple Italian leather shoe.

One.

One shoe.

Either someone donated only one or perhaps a one legged man bought the other shoe. He moped about for a few minutes until I found a milk glass coffee mug for $.48 and his faith in a good bargain was restored.

While we're leaving the store, I suddenly blurt out that we've got to go back to the first store for that chair.

Tim does a double take because he doesn't remember any chair at all, but he dutifully drives us back to the first store while I'm trying to describe the exact color of this chair, how comfortable it is and that I have the perfect place for it.

We get to store where I excitedly lead him to the chair.

"Oh" he says. Not "Oh!" as in cool. Not "Oh" as in wicked awesome. But "Oh" as in "Didn't the 70's do enough damage to our young, impressionable psyches?"

I tell him to sit in it.

"Oh" he says. as in "Oh, thank you Lord for creating an instantly amazing place to snooze, read a novel or watch a game." And in the wink of an eye, we were loading this much too large chair into his much too small trunk and driving home with flashing lights all the way. (when I get really happy, I either chatter away or fall completely silent. this was totally a chatter away ride home. Tim probably wanted to put me in the trunk and let the chair ride up front.)

It does have great lines. And I like the green, just so you know. I think I'll paint the feet black, but for now, I think I'll take a snooze in my new 70's chair. :)

C-H-R-Y-S-alis!

I'm a volunteer youth leader in my spare time. What does that mean?

A lot of the time, it means sleep deprivation, heart ache for them, overwhelming joy for them, advocating for them and way too much caffeine while sharing the message that God loves them and longs to be in relationship with them. Some days it leans heavily to the sleep deprivation side and others it leads heavily to the sharing God side. Any balance isn't of my own doing, but from the Big Guy.

Lately it means I won't have one free weekend for well over a month due to youth related activities, but I'm having an awesome time this weekend.

You see, last night we dropped off one of our teens for a special weekend retreat. Just last year, this girl was so shy, so introverted that most of the time it looked like she was trying to escape.

Slowly, slowly we got to know her and she got to know us and Look Out World, here she comes! All by herself, she asked to join the church and be baptized. A lot of us fully mature adults are too hesitant to make a decision like that.

She also stepped out of her peer group and joined us at Creation with about 100,000 other crazy teenagers. I'll never forget the night she came up to me, jumping up and down, covered in glow sticks, hugging me and screaming "I love Tobymac!" Gone was the shy flower.

And she just keeps surprising me. So, this weekend she is at the retreat getting treated like a Rock Star and showered in love. One of the ways we show our love is through all of the little details (and I can't go into those because I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone else who might go).

I do think I can share these...Sometimes they may find a personalized placemat at their meals. Sometimes. I made her a couple and took them to be laminated, so they're safe from spaghetti sauce. They're pretty simple. Couldn't go wild with the embellishments since they were going to be laminated, but I have to say my favorite is the big layered butterfly I cut with my Silhouette.

That's her, a beautiful butterfly. :)

Sweetness for the Sweethearts

Sooooo, it's about time to pack up the Valentine goodies because I need to move on to some top secret projects for someone, but before I finish sealing these up in envelopes, here are a few more sweet, funny Valentines...You'll note the copious use of those little honeycomb heart cupcake decorations. And I found these bags of vintage buttons I had packaged up for a flea market that got rained out, so I decided their creamy patina was perfect to frame a heart. For a soft, simple Valentine decoration that wasn't blatantly red & pink, I cut out a heart old-school style; fold, cut and unfold. Pulled out cards of vintage (and not so vintage) laces & trims and hot glued them. A banner covered in antique German glass glitter with I Love You and a vintage earring finished it all off. I'm adding this heart decoration to the Opus Gluei challenge of creating a decoration for your home. Doesn't have to be a Valentine's decoration. You are free to get crazy. :) Be sure to check out their other entries!

The Season of Lurve

Have I asked you to hold me back from buying any more Valentine's Day papers because I already have more than I'll ever need? If I have, apologies. If I haven't, for the love of Pete, somebody stop me!

And half the time I make cards, layouts, canvases for different occasions using supplies that have nothing do to with the intended holiday. So why do this stuff continue to work its way into my supply? I'm pretty sure it's because we're all a bunch of happy enablers. Our 12 step program involves tips for finding the latest & greatest, new sources and coffee places in close proximity to our supply meccas.

Faced with all of these supplies, lovely and amazing though they are, I sat down to try and actually use some of them.

I made these cards with a mix of Teresa Collins, K & Co, Basic Grey and Heidi Swapp (super old stash, yikes). And you know what? I still have a LOT of Valentine's stuff from Teresa Collins, K & Co and Basic Grey. I love it all though. I mean, how could you not love a big pile of soft blush, pink and red with frilly stuff all around?

The next card has mostly stash; some Teresa Collins, Basic Grey, K & Co, Making Memories. But what isn't old stash is something I found in the cupcake supplies at the store. I saw these honeycomb heart cupcake toppers and said to myself "Self, those would make killer cute embellishments on a Valentine's card!"

You know what? They really do! Just snap the wooden toothpick off and you are all set. If you're mailing the card, don't open the honeycomb. Let the sender do that (send a little set of user instructions of course). The honeycome hearts are getting used elsewhere too. Hope to show that off eventually.

Until then, it's less than 2 weeks til Valentine's Day! If your honey doesn't do something special for you, do something special for yourself. You deserve it! :)