What I'm diggin

Is anyone else as obsessed as I am about their Christmas gifts? Because I can't stop using (ok, playing with) mine, I decided I had to share a few of my favorites.

We'll start with my new boots! Ok, these technically weren't a Christmas gift. But, they were a gift to myself! You see, every year my Grandma gives us a gift in the shape of a signed piece of paper with her bank routing number on it- yup- a check! So I decided that my shoe collection needed to be expanded and so I bought these!

Ahh I love them! In fact, I have worn them EVERY single day of break. I even tried to find an outfit that I could wear them with tomorrow when I go back to work. I think my students would like them, but somehow I can't picture myself being that teacher who teaches in, well, boots! Moving on...

Has anyone seen my next favorite? Now where did I put it? Let me look again... Ahh! There it is!!

It is Where's Waldo for the Nintendo DS. I don't know about you, but I love a good hunt, whether it's in a thrift store, or on a video game, this has already provided me with hours of brain-exercise (vegging out). So fun!

Speaking of fun, spray painting will be oh-so-fun to do with the help of the Spray Grip! I saw this at my parent's this fall when my mom and I were working on these and it took all of me not to go out and buy one right away. Ok, I'll admit it, I looked for it in the store, but couldn't find it. I dropped some major hints that I wanted one pretty bad and voila! It showed up in my hands on Christmas evening. Thanks mom! Can't wait to see what I paint next...

All that paint will probably need to be cleaned up and I will be able to use my Pottery Barn-inspired towels that my Aunt (remember her from here and here) monogrammed for me and the hubby! I LOVE these! They are so plush and oh-so chic! Perfect!

And finally, I do believe I have saved the best for last, only because this last gift was made for me by a fellow Red Headed Crafter. No, I am not talking about my cute Mom, I am talking about my BROTHER! Was I ever surprised (and later moved to tears) when I opened up the silhouette of my precious baby (dog), Tulah! He took pictures along the way, so look for those in a later post, but check out his work. FYI: He used an actual picture of my doggie that he traced to make the silhouette.

This truly was a wonderful holiday season. At times I could feel the magic of the season, and I am grateful to my husband, our families and our friends for making it so special!

Paper Ornaments

Sometimes I like to embellish my presents. This year I decided to put paper ornaments on the outside of my presents. I have seen these before and decided to give them a try.

I started out with six 4 inch circles of three different patterned paper. Could I type that any more confusing? That equals three 4 inch circles in one color, three in another and three more in another color or pattern. (For a grand total of 6!) I also found that a bone to help fold the paper worked well too.



Fold each paper circle in half.



Glue half of the back of one paper circle to another back's half. As you get down to the last circle, you will need to put the ribbon in. I like to tie a loop onto the top.





Then glue the last circle on.

After it dries for a bit, I tie a bead to the bottom where the ribbon dangles. Here is how my first attempt turned out.

Notice anything? Yeah, I put the ribbon loop on the wrong end- it is hanging upside-down. Perfect for Christmas in Dr. Seuss' Whoville!! If I had noticed it earlier, while the glue was still wet, I could have switched it.

Here are some other attempts.

And, sometimes the ends of the circles don't match up perfectly. You might want to trim them or just distress them a bit with distress ink to cover the white.