Christmas Creations aka Handmade Holidays

I made note cards for my Mom and Grandma to have on hand. I got lots of great scrapping tools and supplies for Christmas from Andrew's parents so I'm sure I will be making a lot more even for myself to have on hand!This is a roll up knitting needle organizer I made for Andrew's mama.

This is the inside of the organizer. Slots for different length needles & patterns.
I made rice bags for pretty much all the guys and my grandma. Guys are so hard to shop for! Kelly has a request in for one now too! The one pictured below was for Kenneth.Purse I made for Gerry from dishtowels! I got the pattern from sew mama sew.

Purse I made for Kelly out of a pattern I found online through sew mama sew
Apron I made for my sista. Pattern from sew mama sew. Ok all my ideas from sew mama sew.
Apron I made for my mama

It's been a while. . . .

I feel like it has been a really long time since I have blogged! We have been having so much fun up in Oregon! Christmas was amazing and we are eating up spending free time with family and just having more free time together! Here are some pictures of our time thus far . . .

Here we are at dawn driving along. We left at about 4am!

We saw snow but fortunately the roads were clear!

This is where she spent the entire trip! She hates the car!

First stop, Portland, Oregon to meet up with Andrew's family and this is what was awaiting our puppy once we checked into our hotel!

In the hotel lobby on Christmas eve.

After Christmas at the Palmer house we headed back to Salem to have Christmas with the Bachran family. Here are some pictures of our morning after Christmas.Oh you two!
Daniel stacking it up!
Sisters in their camel coats! One for Oregon on for California!
Mama made us all aprons and I made her one! Only we didn't know we were making each other aprons for Christmas! How did that happen?:)

After Christmas dinner it was time for a game of cranium! Lucy was on our team!

Daniel the puppet master acting out a heat wave.
That darn sensoscetch lost us the game!

Well that is all for now! I'm sure I will post more later! We are off to see National Treasure II!!

This and That

I finished my last present last night now for the wrapping! I still can't believe I got it all done! I don't think i will take on as much next year! Maybe after Christmas I will post pictures of all my creations but posting now would just be giving it all away! I did have to share some little somethings I made for a cutie miss KJ :) Aren't they super cute! I got the pattern off Heather Bailey's website! They have a wool exterior and are lined with Amy Butler fabric. I had lots of fun making these and they are so tiny I have gobs of fabric left over! I guess I will just have to make more!
Tomorrow Andrew and I will celebrate our three year anniversary! Where has the time gone? I am so blessed to be married to my hubby! He is so hard working, has such a servant heart, and continually amazes me at the man he is and is becoming. I love the talents God gave him and watching it all come to fruition as he is challenged in his program. I don't know how he does it! I love the way he loves me and loves our family deeply. I love how he loves the Lord and I love how he encourages me to grow and be faithful. I love building our marriage and lives together. I love the way he respects me and who I am and how we work at being teammates. I pray that we spend the rest of our lives seeking God and seeking to love each other best. I could go on and on but I will finish by saying how excited I am to spend the rest of our lives together and to see all that the Lord has in store for us! I'm off to eat dinner with my hubby and watch a Christmas movie maybe even while sipping hot chocolate from our Christmas mugs! I love this time of the year!

Andrew's Fall term final project

My final project for fall studio.  The site is downtown on PCH and Broadway. We were asked to design a museum with three main galleries, one showcasing a boat, plane and art work.  The main gallery with the glass facade holds the boat.  Im soooo glad to be finished. oh yeah, its in 1/16" scale

YAY for Sketchup! my new best friend. I did my floor plans in CAD, but I don't have them on my computer. I love CAD, NOT! Now you can have some perspective of how the museum is located with 3D google earth backdrop.

Top view

walkway to main entrance

East view

View coming down PCH

View from foot bridge

Reflection pond with museum holding boat.  You can barely make it out through the glass

West view

Christmas tree fun!

So we finally finished getting our tree decorated Sunday morning and Lucy wasn't sure what to do about the ornaments. She thought for sure we were hanging all kinds of toys just out of her reach! Haha!

The finished product:) Well mostly . . . we are still missing a topper and a tree skirt! We will get there!

Fun with the Mama!

Yesterday my mom and I ran around while Andrew was at school! Got more fun stuff at sowing sisters:) Then last night we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant Piatti! It is this cutest little Italian restaurant in La Jolla and their food is always amazing!

Christmas is coming!

Ready or not! I don't know what it is about this year but it feels like Christmas is coming faster than usual! Maybe partially because we just got back into town on Tuesday so this is our first weekend home since Thanksgiving. Usually we get our tree up and decorated, our house decorated and are watching Christmas movies before the next week begins. Not this year! We have a few decorations up and we have an undecorated tree. The only reason we even have a tree is because Andrew went and bought us one this week! It is from Lowes but guess where it was cut from? . . . . SALEM, OREGON!!! A little piece of home for Christmas. This weekend my mom is here:) So we will be busy playing. Maybe the tree will get decorated on Sunday night.

Our only decoration thus far excluding wreaths!Ohhh and some of my pretties waiting to become presents:)