Ugly Christmas Sweater Par-tee!!

As many of you know, I LOVE planning parties and having them!  They are soo much fun to get ready for and great memories are shared when we do have them:)  Last weekend, we had friends and family dress up in their ugliest sweaters that they could find!  Let me tell you, there were some pretty creative and ugly sweaters!!!

We had too much food, played some games, and exchanged white elephant presents!  Here some photos from last Friday:

Showing off the buffet!

If you can't tell....I made my own Ugly Christmas sweater!  Well, I didn't sew it, but I bought the sweater and added some fun touches to it!  I bet you couldn't even tell...LOL!!!  Don't you just love it though?!?!?

Pics by the tree!

Lucy even had to have a sweater...BUT it wasn't very hard.  It's hard to find ugly sweaters for doggies!

The hubby and I:):)  Love this pic!

Austrian Raspberry Jam Cookies!

I can remember when I was growing up, that my mom would make this petite, and refreshing cookies, but I just never got around to making them.  This year I did though:)  They turned out wonderful and here is the recipe for you all to try, if you would like!

A Little Late: Happy Holidays:):):)

I'm just checking in with everyone to wish them a Happy Holidays, even though they are all over with!  I hope you all had a fabulous holidays filled with lots of time spent with family and friends!  Just in case you have been wondering what I have been up to all of this time, here it goes!  We have been doing A LOT of traveling to see all our family, especially since the hubby's side and my side of our families are on opposite sides on Iowa!

The hubby, AND our puppy dog, Lucy, opened up their presents the day before Christmas Eve!

Lucy sporting her NEW festive collar:):):)

You can hear her where ever she goes off to:)

3-D glasses for the hubby!!!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Par-teee

The last 2 weekends ago, the hubs and I hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party and it turned out to be a blast!  We provided food, drink, and just play fun:)  We even had a White Elephant gift exchange.  It was a little after holiday vaca, but everyone was super busy around that time and it just worked out better to have our party at a later time!

Enjoying the company:)

Lucy sporting a pink sweater!  i couldn't find any sweater that was really ugly in the dog section!

Plenty of delicious yummy food to choose from:)

In the Christmas Spirit!!!!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Turkey Day and wonderful long weekend!  Boy, this past week just flew by!!!  We had conferences at my work on Monday and Tuesday until 8 p.m., so that meant that we had a comp day on Wednesday.  That extra day for the holiday weekend was super refreshing!!  I kept myself really busy this long weekend.  I finished lots of things I've been meaning to do here for a while.  That's why I haven't been posting anything at all.

I wanted to share with you what my Christmas decorations look like so far.  I did up my tree and some odds and ends decorations around the house.

Our beautiful Christmas tree!

There's our puppy, Lucy:)

~Love for fabric~

Woot! Woot! The weekend is (almost) finally here:):) I believe a little Christmas decorating is in store for me and maybe, just maybe, some DIY, too:)  Yes, please!!!

Ever since I started sewing, which really wasn't too long ago, I have collected SOO many different kinds of fabrics!  Right now, I'm going on 1 full mini-box of it:-O  What am I going to do with all of this fabric?!?!  I'm sure I will figure it out, nothing to worry about too much.

Just about every time I go into town, I buy a yard of different fabric because I think, "OH, I could make this," or , "This would look great with __."  Not only am I addicted to Pinterest now, I'm also a fabric-a-holic, too!

Since none of my shows were on tonight, I decided to try another new project.  I made some napkins that could be used for our Fall table decor or our Christmas table decor.  These babies took me about 3 hours to complete a set of 4.

You might say 3 HOURS for these guys??? What?!?!  Well, I'm pretty new to anything sewing and as you can tell these napkins aren't the best as far as the seams go, but I'm still pretty proud of them!  I tried something new and overall, it turned out pretty well:)

Then after I finished with making these, I grabbed my Rustic Snowflakes that I made yesterday, and placed one on the napkin.  I think the snowflake and the napkin kind of have the same theme going on, so it doesn't look too shabby.  I have quite a bit of this fabric left over, so I'm just going to use the fabric to cover a canvas and place one of my snowflakes on the canvas.  I might even be adventerous and try something new, by sewing in Merry Christmas:)

Don't you think it goes together well?

Rustic Snowflake

So, we're a little more than half way through the week....YAY!  I really look forward to my Fridays:)

Tonight I was watching the  news and they had a little clip about how Christmas seems to be coming earlier and earlier every year, as far as the decorating and things go.  They went out and about our city and asked locals if they thought it was too early to be celebrating the holidays and when they end up decorating.  I was surprised, and maybe it was just the people who they interviewed, but most of them said they like how the early you can start to decorate for the holidays.  One person even said that they thought it was early and all, but they just can't help saying no to the holiday spirit!   Now, I have to say that I have been anxiously waiting to put up my Christmas tree because I usually like to put it up early. I thought the weekend before Thanksgiving was early, but the way others made it seem on the news that it wasn't at all!  Who know?  I do know that, I want to start decorating and that I've been in the Christmas spirit for little over a couple weeks:):)  Bring it on, all of it, even the mistletoe!!

Since I used sticks on my "Joy" sign,  I thought these little gems  would fit my "Joy" sign that I made earlier on in the week:)  So, I went out in my backyard and collected some of my branches.  Grabbed some other supplies that I wanted and went to town on my making my snowflakes!  I didn't want to make all of my snowflakes the same because you know that they say every single snowflake is completely different.

What do you think of these little treasures?

Traditions

Who all loves to plan for parties? I practically live for planning parties. I think I like it so much because it gives me something to do and I'm always trying to make it a night that everyone will remember about how much fun they had!

Joy To The World!

Hey All, I hope your having a fantastic Monday!  I have to say that I can't believe that it's almost already Thanksgiving...this year is just flying by!!!  Before you know it will be Christmas and then the New Year:-o  This time of year has always been my fav for many reasons such as: spending time with family, falling in love with the first snow, enjoying all of the Christmas goodies, and having a little extra time off:):)  Who wouldn't love that?

I wanted to share with all of you lovely fellow blogger's, my most recent DIY project, and it is a "JOY" sign!

*Christmas Joy*

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

Another lazy weekend past and gone! Only a week and a half until a 5 day weekend...WOOHOO:):)  Can't wait until Thanksgiving.

This weekend we whipped out the good ol' "Christmas Vacation".  Yes, we were about due for this movie!  It's getting closer to Christmas and we were in the mood for it!  I was in the Christmas spirit all weekend and decided to make my own ornaments to add to our tree.  All of my ornaments that I have aren't really personalized to us, they're mainly the generic ones that you might buy from the department stores.

  I have seen many Christmas ornaments and found lots of inspiration on Pinterest.  You have to love Pinterest, right?  I  think that I am addicted to it...eeekkk!  I found out today, that even if you have everything you need to make a project and you have good intentions, sometimes the project doesn't turn out how you envisioned it to!  So, I tried making 3 different ornaments and here they are!  Guess which one didn't turn out as good as what I thought it would....
1.

Wedding Program Ornament

"Dare to DIY Blog Party"

One last minute post, I couldn't wait to tell everyone that I am going to "Dare to DIY Blog Party" at Newlywoodwards.  There will be several challenges to do throughout the next month or so.


These are the challenges:

Party Date: Monday, Nov. 14

Dare to… be thankful!

Take some time making your own DIY Thanksgiving project. It could be a fun Thanksgiving advent calendar, a banner or something completely unique. Post about what you made, how you made it and photos in its new home.
(Last year's)

Party Date: Monday, Nov. 21
Dare to… entertain!

Show us your table! If you are not hosting Thanksgiving, take this opportunity to make your table look great. Bring out your dishes and napkins and set your table. I promise you that it will make you smile every time you walk by. Get creative and use new things. Or go true DIY and make something totally new.
(Last year's)

Party Date: Monday, Nov. 28

Dare to… eat cookies!

As we begin to attend holiday parties, share your favorite cookie recipe for all to enjoy. It’s like a digital cookie swap. Share the recipe and a review of the cookie. If you can, add a picture. And don't worry about the extra calories. At Christmas, cookies are calorie-free.
(Last year's)

Party Date: Monday, Dec. 5
Dare to… give homemade gifts!

Nothing is more special than a gift made by you. Try out something new to give this year - ideas include bath and body items, kitchen gifts, hand-sewn clothing or home decor. 
(Last year's)

Party Date: Monday, Dec. 12
Dare to… deck the halls!

Make something new to deck your halls. Did you find something in a catalog that you wish you had? Wreaths, stockings, pillows or advent calendars? Make it! Inspire us all to do the same.
(Last year's)

Party Date: Monday, Dec. 19
Dare to… have traditions!

Everyone has traditions for the Holidays. Tell us all about your favorites or start a new tradition to share.
(Last year's)


 You should join the fun.  Hope to see you there:)