holiday grazing

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas over the weekend! My mind is still in holiday mode... there has been a lot of grazing on treats and leftovers these past couple of days... throw in a lot of social eating too, and I am quite surprised my pants aren't tight... yet. Here are some treats we made over the weekend -chocolate covered cake balls and Snoopy holiday cookies. Mmmmm... sugar.....

happy holidays!

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday weekend! I am super excited about seeing little Jasper open his gifts... although, I'm sure he will probably be more interested in the ripped paper and boxes than the actual contents. Off to finish some last minute holiday baking and gift wrapping now... oh where does the time go! Merry Christmas! ;)

get your toque* on

It is finally here... my last holiday show! Okay, so if you missed the last two, here is another chance to swing by and do a little crafty holiday shopping. Opening tonight from 6-10pm, as well as tomorrow from 11-4pm, this show will feature over 20 vendors. Click here for more info on the event! Hope to see you there!
*for those of you who don't know what's a Toque (pronounced "took"), it is a knitted hat/cap you wear in the winter... very popular up here in Canada. I think Americans call this a "Beanie"... but using that word up here would result in a lot of blank stares.

holiday peek

A little sneak peek at some ornaments I am making for my upcoming holiday shows. I decided to use a lot of the vintage book images I had been amassing and combining them with these cute little wooden pieces. Just finished drilling all the little holes... so now they just need a little string for the final touch. Will post the completed photos soon!

peppermint forest

I am just finishing up some last minute holiday baking... ok, well not really baking in the case of these... technically melting and prepping... ta-da... some cool white peppermint bark. These will be packaged up with a batch of cake balls that are currently baking in the oven. (Notice how I chose super easy recipes?... as you can guess, I am not much of a baker... heehee). My goal is to finish making all these treats and eat as little of them as possible. These are for giving, and I have to keep reminding myself that it would be very disappointing for the receivers to get a sad half empty box of treats. Must resist!

coasting along

Craft production is underway full force over here... if you can see my workspace now, you would think a bomb went off in a craft supply store. It is dawning on me that the November days are going by very quickly, and that the two holiday shows I have signed up for are fast approaching, so I am getting a wee bit nervous. Since I am too embarrassed to take a picture of my mess of a table top, I zoomed in on one of the batches of cork coasters I just finished burning. Now to find energy to package them all...

booked up for winter

As promised, I am sharing some of the lovely books I received over the holidays (all of them from Roger, except the one on the far left). It is a random lot... but a peak into my love for all kinds of books, and perhaps my odd personality and likes. My hubby sure knows me well. ;)

1. First up, is "The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Prisoner's Dilemma" by Trenton Lee Stewart. Ok, so I admit, I love reading young adult books, and young reader books. And now that the Harry Potter series has long been finished, I have moved onto this series (this one is the third in the series)... the Twilight series will have to wait.

2. "Hot Hot Hot! Cooking with Fire and Spice!" by Paul Gayler. So I guess you now know we like spicy food. I think this book is a hint from Roger for me to cook up more spicy things. Oh caliente!

3. "+0086:Beijing Cool" by Timezone 8. Jam packed with photos of street fashion from Beijing, China... this book is so fun to look at. Lots of great outfits, art, and visual and graphic eye candy.

4. "Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip" by Tove Jannsson. Love this one. It is a series of comics, originally published in Sweden, of a family of white round hippo-like characters who have many adventures... (I am really shortening it here, since I could go on and on)... but the illustrations and stories are very sweet.

5. "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold. Ok, so this one was technically from a friend for my birthday (in October)... but I am finally getting around to reading it now, so I am including it in the pile. Only half way through so far... and I need to finish it before the film comes out and changes the version I have in my brain.

Looks like I am "booked" up for the winter! Sorry... I couldn't resist that bad pun.

countdown to new year!

I hope everyone has a great countdown tonight! I am still in awe that the decade is almost over... yikes! I figure this is one last day (ok, maybe weekend) to indulge in the last of the holiday treats... sorry, Mr. Gingerbread Man, but your time has come. Healthy eating will commence on Monday, I promise. Have a great holiday weekend! Happy New Year! :)

still on holiday mode

Perhaps it is all the Christmas yummy treats and dinners we have been having and family get togethers this past week and weekend, but I am still in holiday mode today.... hmm.... more like holiday recovery. I think I have enough sugar in me to sustain my calorie count for this entire week (writing this as I am nibbling on a left-over gingerbread cookie, yum). I hope everyone had a great holiday too! Will post new photos soon... I have been a bit lazy and distracted about getting them off the camera... ooh, is that another cookie?

merry christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone... hope everyone has a great day and weekend too! Found this illustration in an old children's book awhile ago and thought it sort of looked like me and Roger... we will try to have the same reactions at Christmas dinner tonight. Ho Ho Ho!

shaking boxes

So exciting.... only one more sleep until Christmas! All the gifts are finally wrapped and tucked under the tree. We got these awesome papers at Ikea... they even came with matching gift tags too (the ribbon came from Ikea as well, but was sold separately)... anyhoo... loved the pretty patterns, so couldn't pass them up. Off to shake the boxes labeled with my name now and then wait for Santa!!

christmas time is here...

One of our favorite holiday TV specials is the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas. We love it so much that we have the cd soundtrack, as well as the figurine set (*note: they are "figurines" and not "dolls"... husbands don't like it when you mix these words up). They are displayed in our living room, bringing a little festive cheer. I couldn't fit them all into the frame (poor Sally and Schroeder are off to the side).. and we still need to get Snoopy and Woodstock. Hope they bring you some holiday cheer too!

white christmas

Just to clarify, this is not how I would dress up during the holiday season. Roger and I went to see Arts Club Theatre's White Christmas at the Stanley quite a few weeks ago... it was a bit too early to blog about it (I think it may have been November?!) so I am bringing it up now. I have never seen the original movie before, let alone the theatrical version, but it was very cute, entertaining and did get me into the holiday cheer a whole month ahead. I must admit though, classic Christmas songs are all good and everything, but I kind of like the duet of Bing Crosby and David Bowie à la Little Drummer Boy and Boney M's Christmas a bit better, but I guess that would be a very weird musical if they all came together.

cake pops

I had a chance to do some holiday baking on the weekend, since we were heading to a holiday potluck. So what to bake, when one is not really a baker?... cake pops! I saw the recipe on Bakerella awhile ago, and have always wanted to try to make them. And once I read that it uses cake mix, it sealed the deal. They turned out pretty good too... I decided to go with the pink, since it went so well with the chocolate cake centers. I think most of the guests sustained a sugar high for a few hours after eating these. Check out the recipe here.

ps. don't forget to enter my December giveaway hereto win a calendar! :)

naked no more

Hooray... our tree is naked no more! Here he is in all his glory. Every year we go against the color-coordinated Martha-inspired designer-looking trees and opt for the old school, mismatched, "let's try to fit every ornament and bauble we have onto one tree" methodology. After inheriting so many of them from our parents and grandparents... the odd ornament combo (some from the 60s/70s/80s), mixed in with some handmade ones thrown into the mix seem to work. Ok... so some of the ornaments are worse for wear.. the glitter is slowly coming off, or I have had to redraw some on some of the eyes for some of the characters, but we love it, and I think the tree really loves it too.

ps. don't forget to enter my December giveaway here to win a calendar! :)

he is still naked

Last night, we went and picked out our green holiday friend... a 6' Noble Fir. It was a bit late getting back, and by the time we got him into the stand, our hunger won over the desire to decorate. So now he stands in our living room a little naked (but not self conscious, of course), looking more like a giant indoor air freshener than a holiday tree. But not to worry, we are breaking out the decorations today, so we'll have some nice "after" shots to share with you soon!

canyon lights

Last night we visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge to see their holiday Canyon Lights display. Usually a scary walk for me across the lengthy hanging bridge, it wasn't too bad this time since it was dark out when we got there.... it makes a huge difference when you can't see the 230 ft drop below. The top two photos are ours... but I have also included the bottom photo (credit to the Capilano Suspension Bridge website) since it actually shows the bridge relative to the canyon. After enjoying the lights, we warmed up with some yummy dark hot chocolate... mmmm... a bit of a reward for me making it across and back without freaking out.

orange you glad i posted these?

One of my fave things to snack on near the holidays are mandarins... so when I was in the store yesterday night and saw that they now carry lil' mini-mandarins, I had to pick up two boxes. Can you make a mandarin any cuter... I guess so!... just shrink them down 50%. They are all so teeny tiny, I feel like a giant eating them (and I am only 5' 1"). Already down to 1.5 boxes... so not sure these will last through the week.