My Vintage Wishlist

I'm going to do my best to limit spending money on anything frivolous or unnecessary for the month of January.  If you ask my husband, he will say it's because we need to save for our next trip to Disney World. Cleaning and reorganizing my work space, though, made me realize that I just have a lot of stuff.  This is going to be a time of purging and using what I already have.  So while I'm not actually buying anything, I'm obviously still doing lots of browsing!  Here are some of the vintage items I find myself most often looking for.

dishes/Cathrineholm/charms

rattle/doll/toppers/face

A Random Playlist For A Random Monday

There isn't really any rhyme or reason to this playlist, just some songs I like.  Hope you enjoy them too. Happy Monday!

Resolution

Have any of you made resolutions for the new year?  I know it's sort of a cliche and I'm not certain that people do a great job at sticking to them, but I thought I would give it a go.  There's something I'm not always very good at.  I can be quite the harsh critic and I'm notorious for comparing myself to others and dwelling on the negative, instead of recognizing my accomplishments and positive attributes.  I'm also not always great at self care, things like exercising, eating well, and getting enough rest.  So this year, I will be kind to myself.  I like that this is vague and that is on purpose, because I want it to encompass a lot.  I want it to include a journey back to being healthy and physically in shape, giving myself compliments on things I often ignore when focusing on the negative, and taking time to do little things like paint my nails, enjoy a good book and a cup of tea.  I think as far as resolutions go, this is a pretty manageable one and, although it will sometimes be a challenge for me, I think I can stick to it!  Good luck sticking to yours!

Snow Day

We had our first decent snow on Tuesday.  It was lovely to look at, but wow, it has been incredibly cold ever since!  Even still, the boys wanted to play outside and ended up coming inside with the reddest little cheeks and noses.  They warmed up with hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows.  My office closed, so I got to stay home and enjoy some extra time with my little guys and with my craft room.  I also got in some good walks with Ralph and was able to snap some photos of our neighborhood blanketed in white.

Make Me A Doll Face

A few months ago, I had an Instagram contest where I asked people to show me their ideas for doll faces.  I randomly chose two winners to have their ideas made into reality.  With shop updates, craft show prep, and life in general, I pushed the giveaway aside until recently.  I really enjoyed creating these gals and they've gotten me wanting to get back to work on more doll faces!

Here are my two winning ideas!  I love that the winner on the left chose items that pretty much describe her.  It was fun making a doll face version of her!  The winner on the right wanted a bird's nest on her doll's head.  Cute, right?

Here are the finished faces!  How did I do?

Christmas Eve Rewind

Christmas Eve was so relaxed and fun that I wanted to share it everyone.  We went to my in-law's house early in the afternoon to exchange gifts and eat lunch, so we had the entire evening at home.  We worked on Christmas crafts, coloring ornaments and constructing houses out of craft foam, and baked the easiest delicious cookies.  I'm sure some baking purists would turn their nose up at cake mix cookies, but these were perfect for the boys to mostly make and we had everything we needed on hand.  I can't find the exact site we got our recipe from, it seems as though there are several variations.  Here is our recipe-

1 box of cake mix (We used French vanilla and devil's food cake)
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup of your choice of add ins (cinnamon chips and chocolate chips for us!)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, mix the ingredients together, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes.  I suppose you could use icing on these cookies or dust them with sprinkles or powdered sugar and really there are so many flavor options and combinations. The French vanilla and cinnamon were definitely a favorite and both cookies were so moist and soft!

Listen to the Man

I was looking up Sam Smith videos on YouTube, because I'm currently a little obsessed (and way late to the game!) with the soulful British singer, and I stumbled upon George Ezra.  This guy has a great voice!  You can hear quite a few of his songs on YouTube and it looks like he has released two EPs and, most recently, a full album.  I chose to share this video, because, duh, Ian McKellan!  Enjoy!