create the life you love

Fall Foodie Swap Gifts

I received my fall foodie swap gifts, hosted by Laura at One Dozen Eggs. Lots of wonderful fall/halloween goodies from my partner, Bridget.

Halloween cookie cutters, sprinkles, cooking idea/recipe book, place mats, cookie baking mold and other goodies ...

Cute spider salt & pepper shakers ...

Kitchen dish towels ...

 

Julia Child memoir - can't wait to read this! ...

Thank you Bridget, for all the wonderful fall gifts - love them! And, thank you Laura for hosting the swap :)
 

 

** Also, Last chance to enter for the drawing of the Thanksgiving tags. The winner will be chosen tomorrow evening. Oh, and I made the mistake of offering the winner the choice of Halloween or Thanksgiving tags, but since it is almost Halloween, I'm changing your choices to Thanksgiving OR Christmas tags ...and who knows, I just may draw 2 winners ;) **
 
 

Fall Foodie Swap

I participated in a 'Fall Foodie Swap', hosted by A Dozen Eggs (check out her fabulous cookies!). Today was the deadline to mail out our packages.

My gifts, all wrapped and ready to go ...

Book Recommendations ... For Little Girls

{ a favorite book of mine }

My god daughter's 5th birthday is next week. I like to buy her special books for her birthdays, holidays, or just because. I have already bought her the 'Pinkalious' books and one or two of the 'Fancy Nancy' books ... as well as a variety of Christmas, Easter, Valentines, Halloween books.

Also, I bought her this doll and a few outfits for her upcoming birthday. It's all I can do to keep myself from taking her out of the box and playing with her ;)

I would love any book suggestions from you all!

birthday wishes

Wishing my blogging friend, Christina a very happy birthday. We have 'known' each other for almost 10 years, I believe, thanks to scrapbooking and Two Peas. Hope you have a wonderful day, Christina!

{ card and gift I sent her }

G i f t s

A few gifts for my goddaughter ... just because!

 

 

Inside is this gorgeous dress created by the very talented and lovely Lori

 

 

And a little something extra, a Hello Kitty coloring and sticker set :)

Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday to you all. This week, I am sharing a few gifts & cards that I recently gave ... wrapped in pink!

 

Graduation Gift

 

Stationery Set

 

Stationery Set Orders

 

Thank You Gift for a Friend

 

Monogram Tags

Hand Made Lilly Card

 

Gift for my Goddaughter

 

Another Gift to my Goddaughter :)

 

Birthday Gift to my Sister in Law

 

 

Gifts to send off to Elise, the little girll I sponsor at The New Day Foster Home in China. I need to get these wrapped up (in pink) and in the mail!

 

For more of Pink Saturday, please visit Beverly's blog.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. This will be my first weekend staying home in 4 weeks - looking forward to it!

Happy Pink Saturday

{ Easter Gifts for my Goddaughter }

 

To see more of Pink Saturday, visit Beverly's Blog

 

~ Wishing you all a Very Happy & Blessed Easter ~

Beautiful Gift

        

I received this beautiful package in the mail yesterday, a thank you and early birthday gift from my sweet blog friend, Lori.

 

Pink and green candle - just perfect for my office (it is burning as I type!), and little Polo socks for my workouts.

Thanks so very much, Lori ... much appreciated!

Valentine's Day Gift

Before I knew about my surprise Valentines trip, I told Dan that I wanted a new vacuum for Valentine's Day - seriously! Yes, he thought I had lost my mind asking for an appliance for a gift ;). To be honest, I also wanted a new area rug for our foyer to 'go along' with the vacuum. I have had the same housekeeper for over 10 years now and she is such a dear women ... but, she and vacuums do not get along! I think I have gone through 4 or 5 in these past years. Bless her heart, she always gets so upset and feels terrible, but they all have broke when she was using them - the last one a few weeks ago. I admit that the last 2 vacuums I purchased have been cheap, but I figured, give it 6 months to a year and it will be history. So, I bought a Dyson as a combined Valentine's gift for myself and Dan - my 'combined' gifts are always a big hit (not!) with him - at least it wasn't a new outfit or jewelry ;)

Last Friday, since we were away and it was Doris' day to clean, I hide the new Dyson. I didn't want her to use it without me giving her a 'lesson' first!

The new rug under the Dyson ...

 

Valentine's Day Gifts

Gifts for my sweet god daughter, Bridget ...

 

   

{ heart shaped crayons }

  

{ doggy charm for her charm bracelet - I am still searching for a Westie }

  

{ little heart box that I put the charm in }

 

{ hello kitty stickers and candies }

 

{ hello kitty 'makeup' kit - B loves hk! }

     

{ little pearl bracelet with heart toggle - I made it! }

 

 

 

   

{ all wrapped up }

I had so much fun doing this ( love, love buying, creating and wrapping girlie things),and had to do it early and drop it off since I will be away on Valentine's Day.

 Dan surprise me - just last night (and Griff - he is on 'winter' break) with a little get away to the Cloisters at Sea Island. We are leaving bright and early in the morning and staying through the weekend - so excited (although I could have used a bit more notice - I have been crazy today trying to get things in order here - dogs/house sitter, cancel appointments, laundry, pack). Still, such a sweet surprise from my sweet husband!

Also, I had my second epidural injection this morning and it was huge difference from the first. Much more painful, so much so that it brought tears to my eyes :(. Since the first injection didn't work, the doctor had to inject in the exact area of my neck were the disc is herniated. He explained that it was a much more difficult area to work on, that he had to be very precise and I had to be very, very still ... and that it was going to be painful - he said all this while I was laying flat on my stomach, with those tears running down, trying to be so still and yes, in excruciating pain. A bit scary, but it was all over in 10 minutes. I had to rest there for a while with an ice pack and had to have a ride home. This was a good thing - I was quite shaky. The pain has been bad all day (it most often is worse the 2 days after) and the ibuprofen is not helping much, when is usually does ease the pain some. But ... once again, I am hoping and praying ... oh so hard that this injection will ease the pain. I think my next alternative is surgery.

Happy Valentine's Day to you all

xoxoxo

Hello Kitty

An early Valentines gift for my god daughter ...

 

And, my pink swap gifts to Jill (who just happens to like Hello Kitty also)...

 

Hello Kitty!

I made this little 'Hello Kitty' coloring book for Bridget (will probably give it to her as part of her Valentine's gift). I mentioned in my last post that I was feeling a bit creative these days ;). Such a fun, easy, girl project! The idea came from Jill, who is my pink preppy swap partner :). I changed my design a little. You can print out the coloring pages free at this site, Coloring Book Fun.  Other characters are available too (I noticed Dora!).

 

  

And .. speaking of  Hello Kitty, my little, shy Lilly sitting on a bar stool and peaking over the counter ...

  

 

I ALMOST did it

.... scrapbooking, that is! Most of you scrapping friends know that I haven't really scrapbooked in years but once in a while I do get the urge to scrap again, or at least the urge to do something creative.  I didn't quite get there this time, but I did put together this little album for my god daughter of our Christmas celebration. Not that it would be called scrapbooking, but I did mount the photos and added a title and ending page  - maybe it's a start ;)

   

  

A few of the pages and I added in lots of photos of Baxter & Murphy since she loves them so much

                                  

Wrapped up ...

Thank You, Lisa!

I've been meaning to post about the wonderful gifts I received from my blogging friend,Lisa. She creates such beautiful and unique jewelery and was so sweet to think of me.

The necklace is made from a scrabble tile - just darling! I also like her display cards :).

And ... oh my!! Look at this adorable ornament - those are my 2 pups!  I had forgotten about this picture that I posted on my blog back in the summer (4th of July). I didn't realize they were Basx & Murph and thought that Lisa found a photo of 2 westies that looked very much like my own. Of course, since the photo is of my own little boys, it makes it all the more special!!

 

The ornament on my little pink tree. I plan on hanging it here in my office year-round though since I love it so!

Thanks so much, Lisa for such sweet and thoughtful gifts!! ...

 

My Goddaughter

I was fortunate to be able to spend a little time with my god daughter, Bridget over Christmas.

Bridget and I had a wonderful time together. She was very shy and quite at first, but quickly warmed up and was a delight to be with. She LOVES Bax and Murph and could not get enough of them. She called them the 'goggies'. They also LOVED her and were by her side all day long. We could never find our kitty, Lilly who must of been hiding/sleeping somewhere, Bridget looked for her every where though. She kept talking about the new 'pussy cat' she was getting for Christmas and that she never, ever had a 'goggy' or pussy cat. Such a fun, special day for me spending time with my goddaughter. 

Gifts for Bridget ...

  

  

Murphy! ...

 

 

Knowing that she loves kitties, I bought her a 'Paw Parazzi" kitty. It comes with a little travel carrier, leash & collar and a pearl necklace with paw charm. Also included is a matching necklace for the new owner, which Bridget has on ...

  

Not sure what this expression is about :) She was very cooperative for the photo taking ...

 

 

Ballet slipper ornament ...

 

Madame Alexander doll from Fao Schwarz.  I thought these were so sweet. I 'designed' it myself at the store in NY. Chose brown eyes and blondish hair to match Bridgets. I also bought a few outfits for her too.

 

'Goggy' treats for Bax & Murph from Bridget ...

 

Love this picture. She is licking on that candy pop behind the package ...

 

We took the pups out for a walk, in which she absolutely loved. She wanted to hold both leashes and walk them both, but the 2 of them together is not easy, even for me, so we traded off  ... 

 

 

   

Griff came home later and was very sweet. A whole different side to see, him with a younger child, much less a girl! He read Bridget a Christmas book ...

 

 

Love this picture. This was how she spent most of the day, down on the floor playing with the 'googies'! ...

 

We dressed Murphy up in his Santa suit. Baxter ran away fast when he saw a 'costume' coming! ...

 

A late afternoon snack. "eareos' (oreos) as Bridget calls them ...

   

* On another note - I dropped and broke one of my camera lens (now I have 2 lens that are broken!!) and had to use a 'not so great one' for these pictures as well as the rest of the photos I took over Christmas. All the pictures seem very blurred with this lens. I really, really should have asked Santa for a new camera and lenses!!

Gifts

You all know how I love to wrap gifts - here are a few that I have given in the past few weeks ... 

First, an 'advent' gift for my goddaughter. I always buy her an advent calendar (not shown here) and give it to her on the 1st of December with a few other gifts. This year I bought her a few things at the American Girl Store in New York ...

 

For the little AG kitty, Licorice and doggy, Coconut (I gave her these in the past) ...

 

I participated in two Christmas swaps.  My gifts for the first swap ...

 

My gifts for the 2nd swap. This one was to include a holiday recipe (I couldn't decide, so I did three) ...

 

Paper Concierge

I've ventured into a new stationery and gift selling opportunity called The Paper Concierge. While I am still creating and working on my own stationery products, mcc designs (sold on etsyand locally from my home), I decided to take my business a bit further and offer higher end stationery products for those who prefer a different look. Also, so many of my local customers ask for invitations ( although, I do custom work at times) and other products (including the wonderful PSA Stampers), so this new business seems perfect. Lots of great personalized items including: monogrammed soap, candles, silver jewelery, plates, acrylic serving pieces and more!

   

Boatman Geller

Chatsworth Collection

Donovan Designs

Embossed Graphics

Heartstrings Gifts

Inkwell

Leap Frog Paper

Mayfly and Junebug

MomAgenda

Noteworth Collection

Oddballs

Paper and Stuff

Paper Menu

Polka Dot Pear

PSA Essentials

Stacy Claire Boyd

Sweet Pea Designs

Three Designing Women

Whitney English

You can order directly from my site  and  I have a few of my favorites listed. Also, there are some great digital photo Christmas cards from Whitney English.

Thanks! And...again, thank you all for the kind comments regarding my weight loss! ;)

 

Saturday ... and my Pumpkin Cake Recipe

A busy day for me. Along with Griff's lax game (see below), Dan had a few guys over for the Gator game, later in the day. We had 2 tickets for the game in Jacksonville, but passed them on to Connor who had a great time, especially since the Gators won big! Barret was also on the road,up in Atlanta for the FSU game. The Noles didn't fair so well, losing to Georgia Tech. Thankfully, both my boys are back at school safely after their big weekends. I always worry non-stop about them when they are traveling (along with a million other college kids on the roads)!

So, this game I served BBQ ribs and pulled pork with some sides (all ordered from 'Oh Boys') and since it's that time of year, I made my 'oh so popular Pumpkin Cake' ...

 

Everyone always loves this cake (including me, but of course with my program - no cake). I actually made 2 of these cakes, one for  my friend Jan's b-day.

PUMPKIN CAKE

4 eggs
2 c sugar
1 c oil
2 c flour - all purpose
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 16 oz cans pumpkin

Mix sugar & eggs. Add oil & mix. Add dry ingredients & mix. Add pumpkin last, mix. Spread into a bundt cake pan. Bake at 350 about an hour (mine always take more than an hour - do the knife test!)

ICING

1 stick butter
1 package powder sugar
1 8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans, if desired

Beat butter & soften cream cheese until smooth & creamy. Add powder sugar, vanilla and beat. Add nuts last (if using them).

Spread over cooled cake, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate.

____________________________________________________________

 

And, I made these cupcakes for a few of Griff's friends. They didn't turn out as well as I'd like, but Griff said they were good ...

 

 

 

Saturday evening I went out to celebrate my friend's birthday. Five of us girls to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants Seasons 52 . The waiter (seen below!) took these pictures of us wild girls :) ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My gift to Jan. I forgot to take a picture of the actual gift though. It was a beautiful beaded necklace - pearls and greenish brown stones that another one of of talented friends made ...

 

 

Gifts

A set of stationery for my girl friend (a surprise party for her the other night) ...

 

   

And a Halloween gift for my goddaughter. The little 'Hello Kitty' shirt is so cute. I bought it at Target! The Halloween tote is also just darling as is the Halloween hair ribbon.

 

 

Personalized Plates

I had a few questions about the monogrammed plate. I bought mine at The Monogram Chick. I think these are a great gift and add some home made cookies or bread and it is extra special!

Bridget's Birthday

Yesterday was my goddaughter, Bridget's 4th birthday. I stopped by her house in the afternoon with her gifts.

I ended up getting the American Girl Bitty Baby Twins  (boy and girl) along with a few accessories.  Bridget had the best time brushing their hair and changing their 'training pants". She must have changed them 4-5 times while I was there. The boy baby seemed to be having lots of accidents ;).

No pictures ( I didn't bring my camera), but of course I took some of the packages ...

 

I also bought this cute monogrammed plate for her and made cookies ...

   

 

*******************************************************

Also: thanks for all the comments on my 'old photo' pictures. So funny , I NEVER think my boys look anything like me - always all Dan, but now that you all mentioned it, I have to admit Griff currently looks just like I did at the same age!

A Gift to me!

 

Look at this adorable travel mug made with Lilly fabric and personalized with my initials. The picture does not due it justice - it is much prettier.  One of my sweet blog readers, Lynda made this for me. I just love it! Lynda is currently under construction but if you are interested in these you can email her at  lyndacamp@mac.com.

Thanks so much Lynda - I appreciate your kindness!

Halloween!

Cute monogram trick or treat bag from polkadotmarket at etsy. Of course, I had to buy it for my god daughter, Bridget. I also bought her a darling initial B Christmas tshirt last year from this seller.

And look at these personalized crayons from laserstuff at etsy ( yes, I bought them for B, just couldn't resist) ...