258/366: Pintember Clay

I love Christmas.  It's my favorite holiday. 

And not just because of the presents!

I love the warmth and the family and the cookies and the snow and the tree and the decorations and the lights.

Oh yes, the lights.

But today, it's the decorations.  The ornaments, specifically. 

I loved this pin from Martha Stewart:

Source: marthastewart.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Finding a mold to make these was an expensive exercise in restraint.  I didn't do it.  Instead, I found these Martha molds from A.C. Moore with a 50% off coupon.

In this pack was a frame mold and as it turns out, my favorite one.  With the addition of a pretty initial, I have some cute ornaments.  I have thought about leaving them white, but I think I will go ahead and test out some painting techniques. 

Technically, I didn't complete this task, but it's close enough for me!

Elving

There are so many things I want to show you, but all the lovelies are going to those that may happen upon this blog in the next couple days.  Normally I wouldn't care, but some of these are just to obvious. 

Instead, I will show you some really cool ideas and happy things I found while browsing Pinterest in the past couple months.  When all else fails, browse Pinterest. 

Source: pocketfulwhimsy.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: withstyle.me via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: mycottoncreations.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: montydob.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: designmom.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: knockoffdecor.com via Carrie on Pinterest

My Gift

Late Sunday evening.

I finished frosting the cut out cookies with natural food coloring so that all members of my family can enjoy. The yellow is great. The blue appears as a vibrant purple. The red is lovely. The green, well, we still need to figure out how to mix yellow with purple to make green, not brown.

My tree cookies match our real tree. We picked a dud tree. It hasn't taken in any water since we bought it over a week ago. Needles are falling and it's lush green is a little bit like mixing purple with yellow.

Shopping is done, baking is done, the wrapping is nearly done, and it feels good.
Just before I sat down, I was wrapping a homemade gift for Sam when I smiled. Earlier, I read a friend of mine was overjoyed with an early Christmas present. A present that is from a high end shop, one in which we could never afford, nor particularly want.

I smiled at the simplicity of the object I was wrapping.  Just a little hand crocheted and felted starfish in red.  The color and size and shape was very important to Sam.  I hope it is exactly as he imagined.

Here's hoping for a boy that is as overjoyed with this "yarny" as my friend was for her gift. 

Remember what your mother always said, "It's the thought that counts."

So as you rush around this week, take a moment to smile and find joy in something simple.

Christmas Goodies

Super Mario fan I am not. But I know someone that is. A slightly obsessed fan, that is.

After my diligent research with some pals on Twitter and the love of bags for my giftee...I came up with this.

I hope he likes it because if he doesn't, I'd use it! (I may have made it a bit large for his size, but now he can hold ALL his stuff.)